A Trillion Stars
by ValleyToHell
Summary: Melanie is a doppelganger; but to who? She has the face of an ex-flame of one Damon Salvatore. What happens when all of Melanie's family secrets get unraveled? Who will get hurt in the process of finding out who she really is, and why is she is so drawn to Mystic Falls? Set during Season 1 and so on! Rating is Mature ;) Damon/OC
1. Chapter 1

**I posted this story a few months back but ended up deleting it due to me not being too creative; hell I was in a writers block. So I've come back with it again because after tonight's season 5 finale I feel like I didn't put in enough effort, plus I owed it to the readers who stuck with it. Hope you all enjoy because a lot of tears, sore fingers, and long nights have been spent on this. Love you all xo**

* * *

"No, I'm almost there anyway Trish..." I said as I pulled off the highway, brushing the tears away from my cheek with my sleeve.

"You aren't okay, look you shouldn't be driving. You're upset" I shook my head and blinked away the blurry tears that were in my eyes.

"I just need time, and my aunt didn't sound good on the phone okay? I just want a week away from everyone, away from this drama Trish, it's becoming too much." I heard her sigh gently on the other end.

"Fine, where does she live?"

"Just a few towns over, she lives in the woods so it's secluded, I don't think there's many people around her so I just want to check in on her and stay with her for a few days or a week."

"If you need me, you know I'm here for you." I nodded

"I know, and I appreciate that, so much. But I just need time. I'll call you when I'm ready to talk"

"Okay, be safe, please."

"I will" I whispered and shut the phone off and pushed it into my jeans pocket. I turned up the radio to try and get my mind off of this, off of this fucked up situation. It was impossible; Greg's face, his words were just replaying in my head, my thoughts never shutting off for miles.

_"Please tell me you're kidding, please tell me you're joking, one of those stupid…" But his face was telling me that he was being dead serious. I gasped, my heart constricting in my chest tightly. Just as if this were a movie, the bathroom door opened and out walked Cameron, a small towel, my towel wrapped around her freshly showered body. She glanced over at our direction and her eyes widened. _

_"Mel, this isn't… we aren't…" _

_"Save it" I whispered and looked at Greg and back to Cameron "Greg told me everything, so don't fucking say anything" My voice rose and I could see tears spring up into her green eyes. "Don't you cry, you did this. YOU! We're sisters Cameron, what were you thinking?" I whispered and kept my eyes on hers, waiting for an answer that I never got. I brought my hand up and smacked Greg in the face and his head whipped to the side, he didn't even lift a finger, or say a word. "I fucking hate you, I hate you both. Stay out of my life."_

_I turned and walked out of his room, jogging down the steps and to the front door, my face beat red as I opened up my car door and pulled away from the curb of his house. How could he do that? How could she do that? My sister and my fiancé? Greg told me that he fell out of love with me the moment he kissed my sister. My sister. Who is 4 years younger than me. _

I passed the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign 10 minutes ago and I was pulling through the town, it had been raining, totally convenient to the situation and how I felt. My mother said that the weather always went with my mood. When it was bright and sunny, I was at my best, when it was thunder and lightning out, I was angry, and when it was just down pouring, I was at my worst. My mother died when I was 13, leaving me to look out for my little sister, my father was a drunk and a cop, and he never was around.

Thinking about this made the tears spring back up because I had looked out for her up until 2 hours ago. I lost my family in a matter of seconds and now it was hitting me harder than a train. Tightening my grip on the steering wheel, I pulled onto the dirt road and started to go down the path to her house.

I turned the wind shield wipers on high, and leaned up in my seat to look out the wind shield with clearer eyes. Too quickly an animal ran across the front of the car and I pressed my foot on the brake and the car skid off to the side and crashed into a tree trunk. The car came to a halt, but I was no longer awake. My head had hit the seat and came forward, and then proceeded to hit against the corner of the window and door, leaving sparks of white to burst behind my eyes to make me pass out.

* * *

It had to have been a few hours later when I woke up shaking and freezing. I was soaked from my head to my feet. I pressed my hand to my throbbing head and it came back with blood. I cringed and moved back against my wet seat and looked around at my surroundings. Swallowing hard, I pulled my phone out of my pocket with shaky white fingers and tried to turn it on but it was too wet that it wouldn't turn on. I tossed it to the side; the house wasn't too far from here. I could make it.

I pushed the door open, the window was shattered and the glass had melted into the mud beneath my feet once I stepped on it with my boots. Putting a hand to my head, I left my suitcase in the trunk of my car, I'd come back for it later. I stumbled back onto the path and continued to walk, my fingers pressing against the wound on the side of my head harder to stop the bleeding.

I could see the house now as I walked a little faster trying not to stumble into the mud from being so dizzy. "Oh, are you alright miss?"

I turned quickly and lost my balance from the mud under my boots. An arm wrapped around my waist to keep me up, and a hand pressed to the back of my head to keep my head upright. "I was..." I whispered and my eyes closed slowly, but fluttered open when the man put his hand against my cheek "I was in a car accident… my aunt lives here" I whispered and he nodded, scanning his eyes over my face and nodding again.

"I know your aunt, let me help you inside. You're freezing" I nodded and he wrapped an arm under my knees and picked me up, my head against his shoulder as he walked up the stairs to the front door and opened it up with so much ease. "Hey guys, look what I found" The man called out and I fluttered my eyes open slowly and looked around to two women and at least 5 men in the hallway, none of which was my Aunt.

"Is that...?" One of the men asked, taking a step towards us.

"It would appear so wouldn't it?" I swallowed hard and squirmed to get out of his grip that was holding me up but it grew tighter.

"Let me go" I whispered and he laughed and dropped me. I landed on my back and I groaned loudly, putting a hand to my aching back.

"Go put her down there with Stefan, see how he does with this one"

I felt someone grab my arm and start to drag me backwards along the floor and I tried to kick but it was useless, his grip was nearly breaking my wrist as he picked me up and walked down a few steps to the basement and down the hall. I elbowed him in the ribs and I could hear something break but he didn't flinch. He took my shoulders and pushed me hard against the cement wall, the back of my head bouncing against it and there was a sickening pop in my ears but I couldn't feel the pain of it just yet.

"Look at you, after all of these years and still the damsel in distress, thought you would have leaned" He brushed my red hair back and his finger traced down the side of my face.

"You have the wrong person" I hoarsely said and he laughed

"Of course you'd say that Meredith, but you smell..." He lowered his face towards mine and sucked in a breath through his nose. My fingers curled into fists as I tried to push against his strong hold again but it wouldn't budge. "...and act the same way, lovely." He smirked and licked over his bottom lip and his lips pressed to the side of my neck and that I felt. The pain was searing. It was as if he poured hot lava against my neck and I screamed loudly. I tried to fight against him as hot, fresh tears streamed down my dirty and bloodied cheeks. He pulled back and my blurry eyes saw my blood on his lips. My lips parted and he smirked "Taste the same too."

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me along with him, I was too much in shock to fight against him this time as he tossed me down into a room at the end of the hallway and wrapped a cuff around my leg. I laid there on the dirty floor and kept my eyes locked on the wooden ceiling. What had just happened? The pain was just a dull throb to the emotional pain I was going through right now but I couldn't feel any of it, not yet. I brought my hand up to the side of my neck and looked at it and blinked a few times, the shock gone now. My breathing started to come deep, and fast.

"Oh my god" I whispered, "I'm going to die."

Just as I thought it couldn't get more worse while I drove on the highway... now I can't breathe. I closed my eyes and let out a strangled cry and put my hands over my face.

"You're going to be okay, you just need to breathe" I heard from the other side of the room and my cries stopped, my head turned and looked at the guy who was chained by his wrists to the ceiling, his body a few inches of the ground. His shirt was off and he was bleeding from various wounds.

"They're going to kill me" I said and he shook his head.

"No they aren't, if they wanted too then you'd be dead already."

A few moments passed in complete silence while I tried to get my breathing in order.

"What's your name?" He asked a few minutes later, his voice hoarse, in pain.

"Melanie" I whispered

"I'm Stefan" He said and took in a deep breath himself. "It's good to meet you Melanie."

I half smiled "You too Stefan" I pressed my back against the wall in the corner and pressed my hand to the back of my head, it was bleeding, and tender.

"How did they grab you?" He asked

"I was in a car accident, coming here to visit my aunt" I looked to the door. "Is she… did you see an older woman, brown short hair? Is she okay?" I asked and he shook his head, I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded.

"I'm sorry" I looked up at him and nodded once "How bad is your head?"

"I um, hit it in the accident and was out for a while. Then one of those…" I tried to think of a word to describe these blood suckers but failed "...people pushed me against one of these walls and I hit it really hard, it's bleeding still."

"Just put pressure on it, try not to fall asleep"

"Are you a doctor?" I asked as I pulled off my sweater underneath my jacket and wrapped it tightly around my head, then I pulled my arms through the sleeves of my jacket to cover the tank top I now wore.

"No" He said and I nodded silently.

It was after dark when one of them walked in through the door, looking at Stefan and back over to me in the corner. I turned my head away from him and he laughed "Oh you poor thing."

I heard his footsteps coming towards me "Leave her alone, do whatever you need to do with me but leave her out of this" Stefan said a bit louder as I swallowed hard while the footsteps slowed but didn't stop until they were right next to me.

"Clever" He wrapped his hand in my hair and yanked on it and I was forced to stand against the wall. He pulled the sweater away from my head and tossed it across the room.

"Still the same after all of these years, how do you do it?" He brushed his fingers down my side, under my bust and gripped onto the front of my jeans. I tried to cross my legs but he kicked it to the side and pressed himself against me. I turned my head and he gripped my jaw and made me look at him. "Where have you been all this time in hiding?"

"I'm not who you think I am" He smiled, amusement coming to his face.

"You always were the girl getting herself into trouble, I guess things never change" He tilted my head to the side and looked at the bite mark on my neck "Seems as if Mark couldn't help himself."

"Leave her alone!" Stefan said and I tried to move but he caught my arms and pressed them down against my sides and I was stuck.

"Please don't. I'm not her, I swear please."

"Your so called aunt is running a little dry and I haven't had anything to eat all day" I shook my head

"Please, don't I'm begging you" Too quickly his mouth and teeth were cut into my skin at my neck and he was sucking my blood and I screamed as the pain spread through my whole body.

"Stop!" Stefan shouted, trying to break the guy's concentration but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until I was going limp, my eyes fluttering. "You're killing her, let her go" Stefan pleaded again and finally he let me go and I slid down the cement wall, my head falling against the ground, my body lying on its side.

After about 10 minutes of Stefan being tortured with some sort of rope and liquid, the guy left and I kept my eyes on Stefan, he was getting blurrier. And I couldn't move. My breathing was shallower, quiet. My heartbeat was loud but slow in my head. Stefan was sweating, bleeding from a few more places on his body.

"Stay awake" He said in a painful voice, "Just stay awake" He pleaded towards me and I fluttered my eyes closed and he shouted my name and my eyes shot open to look at him. "Tell me about you, where are you from?" I parted my lips and whispered in slurred words "Virginia Beach."

"I haven't been there in years, why did you come here? Just to stay with your Aunt?"

"I needed to get away" I whispered again and closed my eyes.

"I can relate... Melanie, you need to keep your eyes open okay?" I nodded but kept my eyes closed. "Melanie" He said a little louder and I fluttered my eyes open to slits.

"I'm awake" I whispered to him "It doesn't hurt anymore" I opened my eyes a bit wider to look at Stefan and he was sweating more from his face.

"You're going to be fine, alright? I'll buy you a beer once this is all over."

"A beer sounds good" I whispered as a small smile tugged at Stefan's lips, but made sure my very tired eyes were kept open by him shouting at me every few minutes. I had enough strength after a half hour to push myself up and to lie down on my back.

"How did they get you?" I asked

"I was out in the woods and they just grabbed me" I nodded and closed my eyes, keeping my fingers tapping against the ground to let him know I was still awake. We spoke quietly for another hour until the door opened again.

"How's my little girl doing?" He asked and I laid there still "I know you're not dead, I can hear your heartbeat" He walked over and leaned over me. "You look better, not so great but better."

"Don't you think she's had enough? She's almost dead" I swallowed hard at Stefan's words but the man grabbed my arm and pulled me to stand again. He didn't wait this time, he sunk his teeth into my wrist and I closed my eyes, letting him. He was pulled off of me and forced to stop a few seconds later and I fell to the ground. Choking to get my breath, it felt as if my head was going to burst if I couldn't get this breath. Finally I got it but it was too late, I had been choking too long that lack of blood flow was too much that my body shut down. My head slumped to the side, my body limp.

"Are you trying to kill her Marcus? That wasn't the plan." One of the other men said to him as they walked out of the room.

Stefan kept his eyes on Melanie; her heart was too shallow, too slow. It could stop at any moment. This poor girl, Stefan thought. Why did Marcus think he knew her, she was just a girl, a human girl. His body was starting to shut down, he was only holding on because he was looking out for her, but now that she was passed out, it was getting harder to stay awake.

* * *

"We have to grab her Damon" Stefan insisted while Elena held him up.

"What? No we don't, she's almost dead anyways, leave her"

"Damon" Stefan said more serious, but in a painful voice. "Elena will take me back to the car, after you're done killing all of them; grab her, that's all I'm asking."

"Urg, fine Stefan whatever. I'll grab her, now go" I heard faint footsteps leaving the room and then stillness. I tried to open my eyes but they were so heavy. I tried to move but once my hand was up, it just fell back down against my thigh. Oh please come back and save me, whoever you are.

I must have passed out again because I felt an arm wrap under my legs and under my shoulders and then the ground was far away from me. "t-thank you" I mumbled as he walked and I felt the soft drizzle of rain against my skin once we were outside.

"What does Stefan suppose I do with you?"

"Hospital" I whispered and he chuckled lowly and I could feel the vibration in his chest from it.

"I don't think so Red" He mumbled while looking down at me. He shook his head once I was passed out again and put me in the backseat of his car.

The next time I woke up, I felt someone patting something soft and wet against my cheek, my head lazily turned to the side to look at the person.

"I told you you'd be alright" I smiled gently and nodded as Stefan wiped the dirt from my cheek with the wash cloth. "How are you feeling? You've been asleep for almost a day."

"A day?" I whispered hoarsely and he nodded "I feel like a train hit me, my whole body hurts."

"From the blood loss" He whispered

"What… what were they?" I asked and he sighed deeply.

"Vampires, they were vampires. Damon and I, we killed them all, you don't have to worry about them coming after you." I nodded slowly and turned my head to look back up at the ceiling.

Vampires. So the ghost stories that Greg used to tell me when we were drunk off our asses were true after all. I calmly took in a breath and looked back at Stefan's clean face. He was much more handsome than I had thought.

"Who is Damon?" I whispered and he took a second before answering

"My brother" I nodded and swallowed again.

"I can do that ya know" I whispered and brought my hand up to take the cloth but he brushed my hand away.

"Don't be silly, you nearly died."

"So did you, yet you look fine" I commented and his jaw tensed "So let me do this, please, so I can get out of here."

"You can't leave" My heart picked up its pace.

"I have to, I have to go home." Why wasn't he going to let me leave? Was he a vampire too? Oh no.

"Sleeping beauty awake?" I heard from the door and my eyes quickly looked down to the door to a man, his arms crossed over his chest, not really paying attention to me, but looking at Stefan. He was breathtaking but had bad boy written all over him. "Good, maybe I can get my bed back soon" He turned and walked away after glancing my way which made me stop gawking at him immediately.

"I'm in his bed? I told him to bring me to a hospital; I could have head trauma, or worse." I sat up slowly but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would have.

"I told you you'd be fine... There's a shower in there" He pointed and I nodded "Need anything, call for me, not him."

I nodded "Thanks" He walked out the door, and I finally looked down at myself. I did need a shower; I was bloody and dirt was all over me. My head was dully throbbing again as I made my way to sit up.

"Here are some clothes; my girlfriend brought them over earlier for you." I nodded

"Tell her thank you" He placed them down on the counter in the bathroom and left again. I pulled my tank top over my head and stood up slowly. I felt like I had a really awful hangover. Walking hurt, breathing hurt, thinking especially hurt. I tossed my clothes into the waste bin and looked at myself in the mirror.

I was unrecognizable, except for the patch of fair skin showing on my cheek. Dried blood was all over the top part of my body; my red hair was dirty and muddy. The rest of my body was alright except for stitches on my temple by my hair line, whoever did that I'd have to thank them.

Turning, I wrapped my hand around the knob and turned it to warm and stepped into the spraying shower. Shutting the glass doors behind me, I stayed under the warmth of the spray for a few moments before wiping my face with my hands. I used a little of his shampoo and washed my hair thoroughly, the back of my head a little tender still but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Washing the rest of my body clean, I shut off the water and stepped out, drying myself off and pulling on the underwear and jeans. The jeans were perfect on me; at least his girlfriend was the same size. Pulling on the bra I had had on before because Elena's was a tad too small, I looked at myself in the mirror again, the bite marks on my neck were completely gone, as if nothing had really happened in the first place. I pursed my lips but didn't press the thoughts of questions running through my head.

I shivered and pulled on the long blue thermal shirt and towel dried my hair the best I could. It curled naturally and I was pleased with that. Maybe Stefan just took the time to recuperate too. He wasn't as bad as me; I never saw them bite him. Plus why would vampires torture another vampire? There was no way Stefan was one.

"You must be Melanie" I turned around once I was in the hall and looked at the girl, she was really pretty.

"Yeah, you must be Stefan's girlfriend… thank you for the clothes." She smiled and nodded

"Are you okay? You look much better" Her smile was infectious, and I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Had a shower, I'm okay, I think. Still in shock but I think I'll be fine."

She nodded "I'm Elena, by the way."

"It's good to meet you Elena"

"Come on, I'll make you something to eat you must be starving" I put my hand onto my firm stomach and nodded

"Actually I am, but it can wait. I need to call home…" I closed my eyes as a wave of dizziness came over me and I stumbled back "I'm okay" I said to mostly myself but Elena didn't believe me, she put an arm around my back and helped me walk down the steps.

"When's the last time you ate?"

"Three days ago" I whispered and she sighed as we walked down the steps. I felt like such a baby with her, how old was she anyways? I was 21; she had to have been younger than me, still in high school maybe. We walked into the kitchen and I sat down on one of the stools at the island of the kitchen.

"How about some Eggs and a piece of toast?" She asked and I could only nod, anything sounded good right now.

"How's your head?" I heard from behind me, it was Stefan.

"She had a dizzy spell in the hall upstairs, I'm making her some food now, maybe it'll help." Elena answered Stefan and he nodded.

He looked over at me "Mind if I see the stitches?"

I shook my head and lifted my head and he stopped walking toward me and muttered something under his breath. "What?" I asked. The way he was staring at me was like a deer caught in the headlights, like he was seeing a ghost.


	2. Chapter 2

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* * *

"Stefan?" Elena asked and came up to his side.

"Nothing, it's just good to see you without all the mud and blood over your face, I can actually see you now" I nodded slowly and Elena didn't look too convinced by his words. He walked up to me and brushed my hair back a bit from my hair line and looked them over "Healing up good."

"Who did these?"

"Mr. Saltzman, he's our history teacher and he's a little too good with injuries." I nodded, history teacher, so they are in high school. Elena slid over a glass of Orange juice and I took a slow sip of it, didn't need this hitting my stomach too hard.

"Thank you, for this." She nodded and smiled, turning back to do the eggs.

"So Richmond" Stefan started and I looked over at him and nodded slowly but was puzzled.

"What about it?" I asked confused.

"Are you originally from there?" I nodded

"Yeah… how did you know? I thought I told you I was from Virginia Beach?"

"You did tell me last night, you were pretty out of it still…" He said as I nodded. Hell, I probably told him my whole life story last night and not have realized it.

"Oh, well then… but yeah I was adopted, my real mom died during childbirth and with no dad around, I was put up for adoption" He nodded and quickly looked me over, then looked down at his phone.

"Are you planning on staying still or headed home?" I swallowed hard and took another sip of the orange juice.

"Home" I laughed and shook my head "It's not much of a home, if you can remember… I do remember telling you why I left."

He nodded "Yeah, you can stay here if you'd like. We do have more than two rooms; I don't know why Damon put you in his room if he was going to complain about it."

I smiled "I was thinking the same thing and thank you, I accept your offer. Just for a little bit, until I'm all healed."

"No worries, take your time" I smiled and brushed my hair back.

"I probably need to go back to my car, where ever that ended up, to get my suitcase." He nodded

"I'll drive you out there after you eat and rest some more."

"No, let me, we'll have more time to talk, get her out of the house for a bit" Elena said and I smiled as Stefan nodded and stood up.

"Damon's been calling me, I'll see you two later" He gave Elena a small glanced look and she smiled at him and then he walked out of the kitchen.

"So how old are you two? I feel rude asking but apparently I was wrong on my assumption."

"17" I nodded

"Oh, same age as my sister then" She smiled

"How old are you? You look really young too"

"Just turned 21 a few weeks ago actually" She kicked off the toaster as the toast popped up.

"How has that been?"

"It's been alright, I don't drink much, and I'm sort of a light weight." She laughed as she flipped the omelet and pulled the toast from the toaster and put it on a plate and started to spread butter over it.

"I'm sort of a light weight too, but don't tell anyone" I smiled at her secret she shared with me as she put the omelet on the plate and slid it over towards me with a fork and knife.

I smiled "thanks again, I'm usually the one cooking for everyone. I'll have to make you some of my famous cupcakes sometime." She nodded and smiled wide at the idea. We got to know each other as I ate.

I cleaned off my boots and pulled them on about an hour later before Elena went to turn the car on. I opened up the door and left the house, looking back at it and then went to her car and climbed in the passenger's side.

"So where exactly was it?" She asked as she pulled onto the trail which was much clearer than I remember.

"Maybe like 10 minutes in, an animal ran across, I think it was a deer and I braked but it hydroplaned and I slammed into a tree." She continued to drive until I told her to stop, remembering the tree with the slash through it. She stopped the car and I opened up the door and closed it behind me as I walked onto her side and walked into the woods and just beyond the high brush, was my car. The front end was really damaged and crushed, windows blown from the front and side where I was.

"Oh wow" I heard Elena behind me and I looked back at her and nodded, walking to the front and opening up the door, being careful to not get cut on broken glass. I grabbed my phone that was still on my seat and popped the trunk. My phone started to turn on but it shut off due to it being dead. Thank god I had my charger in my suitcase. Grabbing my bag, I closed the trunk and sighed. Unzipping it, I pulled out the top sweatshirt and pulled it on from the chill that was in the autumn air. Zipping it back up, I locked the doors, even though the windows were busted and anyone could get into it. "Is that one of the new bmw's? It looks it."

I nodded "Yeah, early birthday present to myself a few weeks ago, and it seems as if the dealer was wrong with wet weather and mud."

She half frowned and shook her head "You bought this? What do you do for work if you don't mind me asking?"

I looked over at her "I don't work anymore. My real mother had all of her money in a will to me before she died. People were calling me the million dollar baby when I was born in the doctor's office."

"Did you just say Million?" I nodded

"What did your mother do?"

"Designer or something like that, there wasn't a lot on her, just a few photographs that I have." She smiled "I actually get confused for her a lot, here" I pulled out the wallet from my bag and pulled out the photo of her from the 80's.

"You two could have been twins, except for the hair, you two are practically the same" I smiled and nodded

"Thank you, that's a huge compliment, she's gorgeous."

"She is, and so are you" I smiled and took the photo back and put it back into my wallet and my bag. Pulling my bag up, we walked back to her car and I tossed the back it into the backseat and got back into the car with her as she did a U-turn and started to drive back to the house, but made a pit stop at her house quickly to grab something. "There's a founding families event thing tomorrow night, I wasn't sure if you wanted to go, not sure if you had a dress in that bag of yours."

"Founding families… oh that's that thing this town does. I remember that from when I was a kid. I have a few dresses. I sort of just grabbed a bunch of my things, shoes and such."

She smiled "Great, you can meet some people. If you were planning on staying, my aunt is a realistate agent and wouldn't mind having a new client to find a new place for."

"I might talk to her about it, Now that all the vampires are gone. It's weird right? Vampires in a small town like this? It's like a nightmare come true." I rubbed my hands over my arms and leaned back in the passenger's seat.

She nodded slowly and looked over at me "Yeah, when I found out about them, I was freaked out too."

"When did you find out about them?"

"About 2 months ago, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind how I felt, how I acted." I nodded and looked out the window.

"Kind of makes you second guess people" She nodded

"You just need to try and be open, those were horrible vampires that had a grudge, and somehow they confused you for someone they didn't like."

"Vampires are vampires" I shivered and wrapped my arms around my body tighter and continued to look outside as Elena glanced over at me again, sighing.

"I'm going to drop you off, I have to get home and finish a paper for school. Are you going to be okay?" I nodded

"Yeah, just, could you give me your number? Once my phone is charged, I'll shoot you a text so you have my number." She grabbed a piece of paper from her dash and wrote it down and handed it to me.

"Have a good night and remember I'm here if you need anything."

"Thanks again Elena." She smiled as I got out of the car and grabbed my bag, then shut the trunk and walked inside. Walking into the house, I called out to anyone in the house and it resulted in a door from upstairs opening. I walked up the steps with my bag and Stefan was shirtless in his room working out. I shielded my eyes and laughed.

"I grabbed my things from my car, I was wondering what room I should grab" He wiped his body off from sweat and pulled on a wife beater.

"You probably want to be as far away from Damon as possible, he's in a bad mood. So here" We walked down the hall a bit and opened up the door to the front room, it had a view of the front of the estate and it was perfect.

"Great" I smiled

"Towels and things are in the cabinet down the hall."

"Thanks again, I won't be a nuisances, or try not to be. You won't even know I'm here."

"Oh don't be silly, believe me, it'll be great having you here. Damon can be a lot to deal with alone, and I'm pretty sure you're looking for answers about the whole… vampire thing and why they were after you, I'm curious about it to."

I nodded "Vampires and grudges" I muttered and Stefan raised his brow "Something that Elena said, she told me that those vampires that had us were holding a grudge over me, or someone that I reminded them of."

He nodded "We'll figure it out" I nodded slowly and looked him over.

"Are you okay? You don't look too hot" He smirked and nodded, looking down and back up at me.

"Yeah, just working out, takes a lot out of me"

"Yeah, I bet"

"If you need anything, just come find me or yell or whatever. I'll be around tonight until later, going to go check in with Elena."

"No worries and thank you again" He left and closed the door behind him. I dropped my bag on the bed and grabbed my charger from the slot I put it in and plug my phone into the wall charger. Thankfully, it wasn't water damaged too bad. Pulling out my clothes, I hung them up in the closet and opened a window, pulling the shades up to let in some of the sun to the room. I grabbed my phone and put in Elena's number and tossed the paper into the trash bin. It was just as big as my room back at my apartment, which reminded me. I scrolled to Trish's number and started to type a message to her.

"You can find someone else to move in with you, I'm staying here in Mystic Falls with a few friends." I pressed send and she messaged back right away.

"Are you serious?" I sighed and typed back.

"Yeah, this feels more like home than the beach does. I'll come and visit you soon." I really wasn't. I couldn't. It was too painful.

"Be safe" She texted me back and I put my phone down, ignoring the voice messages from my sister and the pleas to forgive her. Wrapping my arms around my chest, I slid down onto the bed and stayed on my side. I let the sobs rack over my body, letting the pain and anger set in and spill over finally. Covering my arms over my head, I shook in pain. The weight of the engagement ring heavy on my finger, and I pulled my hand up to look at it on my finger. It looked all wrong. It was so wrong.

I swallowed hard and wiped my face, and looked at the time. It was just after 5pm, I had time. I put on some light makeup and pulled my hair down from the pony tail it was in and pulled on my leather jacket from my bag. Putting my wallet and things into my purse, I pulled it up onto my shoulder and walked out of my room and down the hall.

"Where are you off to?" I turned around and smiled at Stefan who was just coming out of Damon's room.

"Post office, I have something to mail back home."

"Really, already?" He asked and I nodded, he smiled and I held up my ring and he nodded in understandment. "Want me to come with?"

"I think I've got it, it's still near maple right?" He nodded

"Good luck"

"Thanks."

I walked down the steps and just as I opened the door, Damon was coming up the steps and almost to the door.

"Leaving already? Good. Bye now" He muttered and I sighed, remembering that Stefan said that he wasn't in a good mood today.

"You don't have to be a dick, and no I'm not leaving, you'll have to put up with me for a little longer" I smirked and walked by him and he huffed.

"Where are you going then?" I turned and brushed my red wavy bangs from my face to look at him now from below the steps.

"Post office, see you later" I turned and laughed under my breath and continued down the driveway.

_Damon hit the steering wheel hard and pushed himself back into his car seat. This whole time he'd been trying to get Stefan to jump off his bunny parade, but now it was dangerous. John Gilbert coming to town to start up the frenzy with the council members. Where did that guy come from anyways, he needed to leave, because he was going to be a problem, and we didn't need more problems. And now this girl was living with them. Why couldn't Stefan just compel the girl to think an animal attacked her? She bled all over the sheets, costing him over a grand in new bedding. Now he had to put the sheets on the bed that was going to take forever. Wiping his face, Damon pulled himself out of the car and walked up the steps, just as it opened and that red headed girl walked through. Her face was covered in the shadow from the sun setting, but she looked better, he had to admit. _

_"Leaving now? Good. Bye now" He said to her as he walked by her and to the door, she walked down the steps past him and before he could take a step into the house, she said in a small but definite voice _

_"You don't have to be a dick, and no I'm not leaving, you'll have to put up with me for a little longer." _

_Damon turned around, she was still staying here? Why? He huffed, and turned around on the porch towards her. _

_"Where are you going then?" he asked her, already annoyed. If she was going to walk in and out of the house at every hour of the day, he was going to get annoyed; he might even just kill her now. _

_She smiled and turned "Post office, see you later" she said with a grin. _

_His blue icy eyes glued onto her lightly tanned face. Her laugh played in his head again as he took a step on the porch toward her as she walked down the driveway. Was that? _

_"Meredith?" He whispered to himself before he shook his head and instantly turned around and walked inside, slamming the door behind him. "Stefan, where the hell are you?!" _

_Stefan was in the living room having a glass of bourbon. "Meredith. Why does she look like Meredith? You said her name was Melanie." _

_"It is Melanie…" He whispered and turned around to not face his brother. _

_"Why does she look like Meredith, Stefan?" Stefan turned around and sighed, taking another long sip of his drink. _

_"I don't know." _

_"That's why they grabbed her, why Marcus grabbed her, he thought she was Meredith." Stefan nodded._

_"I didn't notice until this morning, her face was unrecognizable with the dirt and blood." Damon's jaw tensed. This girl looked like Meredith. His Meredith. _

_"Where is she staying?" he asked as he walked up the steps, pulling off his leather jacket and tossing it to the side. He didn't wait for Stefan to answer, he found her room instantly just from the scent. It was sweeter than Meredith but it was just the same. Opening the closet, it hit him like a bag of bricks. Damon couldn't catch her scent before because of all the dirt but now, on her clothes that were hung up, it was so strong. _

_"Damon, going through her things won't do any good; she'll know you were in here." _

_Damon closed the closet door and went through the dresser. Nice panties but no luck on finding out who she really was. _

_"She's human, Damon. She's not Meredith. Meredith gave off a…" Damon looked back at his annoying little brother and nodded once. "…she does give off that scent." Stefan came to the conclusion all by himself. Damon's jaw tensed as he saw the photo hanging on the mirror. He grabbed it and his eyes scanned the 20 year old girl in the photograph. Turning it over, it read in perfect script "Meredith Adonis, August, 1984"I turned it back over to look at the perfect girl again. This couldn't be the same Meredith, it just couldn't. But it looked exactly like her. _

_"Stefan, why do you suppose she has a photo of her from 1984?" _

_"Who? Meredith?" I nodded and he took the photo from me and examined it carefully. _

_"Melanie's last name is Adonis, Damon" I looked at Stefan and took the photograph._

_"If this is some Katherine, Elena shit again, I swear to god" Damon said as he walked out of the room and walked into his bedroom to search this girl up on the internet. _


	3. Chapter 3

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Mailing the ring was super easy, I put it on rush order so it would be shipped out by the end of the day and be at his front door tomorrow with a little note of me basically telling him to fuck off. After, I walked around the town a bit and walked into the grill for a quick drink and some fries.

"Melanie?" I looked to my side at the man and nodded in confusion.

"Yes?" He wiped his hand on his napkin and held out his hand.

"Alaric Saltzman" I smiled and shook it gently

"The history teacher who did the stitches" He nodded and smiled

"It's good to finally meet you, you look a lot better"

"A long shower and some rest will do that for you, thank you" I sat down beside him with my drink and waited on my French fries.

"So you're staying in town?"

"I'm staying with Stefan, for a little bit. I'm going to talk to Elena's aunt; she said she's in real estate"

"Yeah she is, she's the best actually. It's good that you're staying, always good to see fresh faces around here" I smiled as the bartender put my fries down in front of me and then thanked him. "You're drinking, how old are you?"

"21"

"Really? You don't look it at all."

"Well thank you, that'll be helpful when I'm 50." He laughed and tipped his glass against mine gently and wished me a small belated happy birthday before taking a long sip from his glass and I smiled, enjoying his company.

"So where are you from?"

"Virginia Beach, my aunt lived…" He nodded

"I know, I'm very sorry" I shrugged gently

"Thanks, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing" He nodded

"Takes some time to get used to, I know." I sipped down some more of my drink and ate more fries as we got into an easy conversation.

"So you're Elena and Stefan's history teacher" I commented and he nodded

"That I am, I have them for two years."

"What made you want to get into history?"

"I don't really know, I was always fascinated with history, what do you do?" I smiled

"I was a student. I left a few semesters in though, since then not really anything but some side jobs and singing in a band" He nodded

"A singer?" I nodded

"My mother was a great singer, my aunt told me. I never met her, she died during child birth, said I got all of her genes." He smiled

"Well that's a great talent to have, bet you've won a few drunken karaoke nights"

"You guessed right Alaric" He smiled

"You can call me Ric, Alaric is so professional." I laughed under my breath

"Then you can call me Mel"

"Deal" He tapped the edge of his glass against mine gently once again and we both took a sip.

"So tell me, what is your natural hair color, this flaming red cannot be natural"

"Dark brown"

"I can believe it. What made you choose red?"

"It's been red since high school, it's just easy to do it this color, and everyone knows me by this color back home."

He smiled "People call you red?"

"How did you know that?" I laughed and he laughed with me.

"A drinker too? Stefan was wondering where you ran off too" I turned around and smirked at Damon

"Well you can tell him that I'm having a drink with his history teacher" I patted Alaric's shoulder and he smiled over at Damon. Damon gave him a tight grin and sat down next to me.

"Bourbon neat" He told the bartender and I sipped down the rest of my drink. He bumped his shoulder against mine "Want another?"

"Sure why not" I slid my empty glass forward and he made me a new one and slid it back to me. "Thank you, it seems as if your crabby mood disappeared, good to see" I took a long sip of my drink and put it back down as Damon started to munch on my fries.

He nodded "Yeah, you left the house and I was at peace for a while."

I huffed in annoyance "Ass" which brought a smirk to his lips.

"I better get out of here. Monday mornings suck; don't need to add a hangover to that list" Alaric said and I smiled as he stood up "It was great talking and getting to know you, I'll give Jenna, Elena's aunt, a call later and tell her that you're interested in moving here."

"Thanks Ric, it was good meeting you too." He gave Damon a tight nod and walked out of the Grill. I turned back around towards the bar.

"Moving here?" I nodded

"Seems as if this place just feels right, plus I don't think people at home want to see me anyways, or rather I don't want to see them."

He smiled "Why's that?"

I glanced over at him and brushed my hair back over my shoulder "My fiancé was having an affair with my 17 year old sister."

"Rough and I thought I was a dick" I nodded and rubbed my thumb over the missing ring from my finger.

"That's why I was going to the post office; I had to mail him back the ring" He took a long sip of his drink and put it back down on the bar counter top.

"You seem okay for a woman who just went through something that would have all women eating a gallon of ice cream" I gave him a strange look and grinned from the corner of my mouth, he was being sarcastic, I was going to have to remember that about him.

"It's just an act, believe me. After yesterday, or two days ago, I'm pretty sure my life can't get any worse."

"Don't say that, it'll only get worse" He joked and I laughed and nodded "Yeah, I shouldn't have said that."

I put my hand over my face and sighed, taking another sip of my drink before turning to him.

"So what is your last name, I think Stefan told me it when I was dying but what was it"

"Salvatore, what's yours?" He smiled playfully at me, his drink to his lips.

"Kavanagh"

"Melanie Kavanagh" He nodded, tasting it on his tongue.

"Well that's what it says on my birth certificate, but I changed my last name to my mother last name."

"Which is?"

"Adonis. I thought it was cool, and it sounded better. Plus it's a Greek God" He smiled briefly and nodded.

"Fits you, being a beauty yourself" I smirked and looked down, shaking my head as I took another long sip from my glass before putting it down.

"Well thanks for the drink Damon but I should be heading out" I stood up and grabbed my jacket, pulling it on as I tossed my bag up onto my shoulder.

"Why are you leaving? We're going in the same direction, have a few more drinks with me, I'll even drive you back" I smiled at him as he tried to be polite as possible "You can tell me about your ex fiancé if you'd like and how much you wish someone would kill him" I laughed and looked down.

"Okay but you're buying" He smirked and nodded as he ordered another round, a much stronger round. I pulled my jacket off and sat back down on the stool next to him. "So what's the douche bags name?"

"Greg Thomas"

"Sounds like a preppy jock to me with a name like that" I nodded

"He modeled, not very well at it" I took a long sip from my drink.

"So did you catch him in the act with your sister or?" I shook my head

"After, or the morning after rather"

"How long has it been going on?"

"No clue and to be honest I don't really want to know…"

"You really do have a sucky life. First your fiancé cheats on you with your sister. Then, you get into a car accident; and then, you get kidnapped and almost die."

I nodded "Which calls for shots I believe."

"My kind of girl, hey Bob, 4 shots over here of your best Tequila" If Damon was paying, I was going to drink until I couldn't think about this anymore. "So job back in Virginia Beach? What about family, other than your good for nothing sister?" I took a shot and smiled at him

"Just my sister. My real birth mom died during childbirth, never knew my real dad. Adoptive parents are both dead. I have a very morbid family story. Ya know, my sister was always jealous of me, trying to suck up to me because she had to work a 9-5 job for her money. I was just handed the cash when I turned 18."

"What cash? Who'd you get cash from if your parents weren't around?"

"My real mom, she apparently knew something because she made a will while she was pregnant, all of her assets got put in my name and I could claim them when I turned 18 and not a day before."

"Awesome mom you had there" I nodded and smiled, sighing as I took another shot.

"I wish I could have known her. I only know a little about her from journals and just photographs."

"There wasn't any family of hers? No friends?" I nodded briefly

"My Aunt, who is well…" I looked down and shook my head "She told me very little about her though, so I looked into it a few years ago after I got the money, but all of it turned up empty" I shrugged and pursed my lips "What about you Damon? What's your story? Other than saving Damsels in distress from vampire kidnappers"

"Hey, shh" I looked over at him confused

"Oh, not everyone knows" He nodded and I nodded back in understandment, zipping my lips and tossing away the key.

"Was born here, moved away when I was younger, came back a few months ago" I nodded

"Very vague, I like that about people. I used to be that way, mostly so I didn't have people feeling sorry for me, now that you've got me drunk, I'm an open fucking book" He laughed and shook his head

"I'm going to have to remember that you're a light weight"

"I should have told you before, my fault." I slid my hand over and put it on his shoulder gently and I instantly felt his muscles relax under my hand. "I'm going to hit the ladies room real quick, If I'm not back in 5 minutes, call the hospital because I fell down" He laughed and stood up, taking my arm and helping me.

"Let me help you to the bathroom, least I can do for getting you drunk." I nodded, not refusing any help at this point. It wasn't even near 10pm and I was drunk as a skunk. I walked slowly with Damon as he held my arm. I pushed the ladies room door open and smiled back at him.

"I've got it from here Captain, thank you" He nodded and let me go. I stumbled into the bathroom and did my business, and started to wash my hands. I heard knocking on the door, "One second!" I called and looked at myself in the mirror, pulling down my shirt and fixing my hair and makeup. He knocked again and I sighed, flipping my hair from the ponytail it was in and walked slowly to the door and pulled it open. He was standing there with a beer bottle in his hand, the tip against his lips. "Have you ever considered modeling, I mean, you have a great face, hard jaw line, aligned nose" I quickly traveled my eyes down his body and back up to his face "And nice other things."

He smirked "Red, I'm getting you home" I pouted at him and he grabbed my arm and walked us back to the bar, he was stumbling a bit too.

"Are you okay to drive?" I looked up at him outside at the car as he pulled my jacket onto my arms and he nodded

"I'm a great driver, do you not believe me?" I put my finger against his hard chest.

"Your drunk" He rolled his eyes.

"No that's you" He opened the car door and I slid into the seat and he closed the door. He was in his seat a few seconds later and he was pulling out of the grille parking lot.

"Can we not go back to the house?" He looked over at me; my head was resting against the back of the seat, looking at him.

"And where would you like to go?"

"The moon" I whispered and he smirked from the corner of his lips.

"How about we go back, I tuck you into bed and you fall asleep before you start getting sick and have a nasty hangover in the morning" I pouted and shook my head as he pulled into the driveway of the boarding house and helped me out of the car.

I pulled my jacket off and tossed it onto my bed, huffing as he shut the door to go to his room or whatever. I kicked off my boots and stumbled back against the wall. Catching my breath, I stumbled to the bed, but didn't quite make it as I pulled my shirt off and tripped, falling on my back onto the floor. I shook my head, letting a few tears fall before I closed my eyes and just laid there.

"Are you alright in here?" I heard Stefan's voice and I shook my head.

"I'm fine, I tripped, sorry for waking you." He turned on the light and I put my arm over my eyes to block the blinding light.

"What are you doing on the floor? You can open your eyes I shut the light off" I pulled my arm back from my face

"Damon said he was going to tuck me in, and I ended up tripping"

"Are you drunk? Damon got you drunk?"

"He paid" He leaned down and I looked up at him

"Wrap your arms around my neck" I did as I was told and he wrapped an arm around my lower back and pulled me up to the bed and laid me down on it. "There you go"

"Thanks Stefan"

"Don't worry about it"

"You should be asleep. You have school tomorrow" I mumbled

"I run on little sleep don't worry about it. Just wanted to make sure you were alright. How are you feeling other than being drunk?"

"Fine" I whispered and he nodded, brushing my red hair back from my face.

"Are you going to be alright?" I nodded again, just really wanting him to leave so I could sleep. "Just yell if you need anything" I slowly nodded and turned onto my side, as the door opened but didn't close for a few seconds and then it shut.

"I told you I'd tuck you in; you couldn't wait 5 minutes until I showered" Damon said as the bedroom door opened a few minutes later.

"Screw you" I muttered and wrapped the sheet around me.

"Screw me?" He asked, offended and yet I don't think he was really offended.

"Yes" I whispered and then the sheet was pulled away from me.

"What were you doing with my brother?" He asked and I sighed

"I tripped while I was pulling my shirt off dick" He smirked and I felt the side of the bed sink in "Urg no, go away" I pushed against him and I felt skin. I pulled my hands back "Are you naked?" I whispered and he started to chuckle.

"No, but I can be"

"Please don't" I said and he chuckled again, I felt his hands on my jeans and he started to unbutton them and I swatted his hands away, rolling away from the bed and rolled off onto the floor again, hitting the back of my head hard. "Ow, ow oh god" I groaned, holding the back of my head where it was still tender from it being smashed into the concrete wall a few nights ago.

"What's wrong?"

"My head" I whimpered and I felt his fingers pulling me up quickly and easily to my feet and I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Let go, let me see" I shook my head but he pulled my hands away and he started to press his fingers against the back of my head and I cringed.

"Ow, stop it"

"Still tender, you could have a concussion." I sighed

"Why not, why doesn't someone just throw me off the fucking bridge right now for god-sake" He sighed deeply and let my head go.

"Come on" He wrapped an arm under me and lifted me.

"Where are you taking me?"

"The kitchen to grab ice"

"Put me down and get it yourself" He shook his head and dropped me on my back onto the mattress.

"You are the most difficult woman I have ever met"

"For some reason, I'm not so surprised Damon" He paused for a second.

"What did you just say?"

"I said that for some reason, I wasn't surprised that I'm the most difficult. I can see you having easy women all the time, I'm probably right too." He stood there on the side of the bed for a few more seconds and then turned and walked out of the room silently. Finally some peace and quiet, I relaxed into the soft bed on my side and closed my eyes.

As I started to drift off to sleep, I felt hands shaking me and I shook my head "Go away"

"I told you not to fall asleep" I felt something cold against my head and I sighed, it was cooling and it felt amazing.

"I'm still awake Damon" I whispered, keeping my eyes closed though.

"Will you do something for me really quick?"

"What is it?"

"Drink this for me?" He held out a small glass and I shook my head. "It'll make you feel better and you won't have a hangover in the morning."

"Okay" I agreed and pushed myself to sit up against the headboard. He handed me the glass as his hand and the ice pack stayed on the back of my head.

"It's going to taste a little funny but that's the point, the grosser the drink the better it has on its effects." I tipped the glass and let the sweet iron tasting drink slide down my throat until it was empty and I handed him back the glass.

"It wasn't that bad, though the iron is really strong."

"That's why I brought you this too" He handed me a cold water bottle and I looked over at him quickly.

"You know you're mood swings are giving me a headache" I took a long sip of the water and he was smirking, pulling the ice pack away from my head.

"Wow, you weren't kidding" I leaned back against the headboard again, closing my eyes.

"It takes effect rather quickly" He whispered, his breath against my cheek as his fingers moved along the back of my head again to check the tender spot, which wasn't there anymore.

"It's like warmth" I whispered and he hummed against my ear.

"What is?"

"That drink you gave me. It's like I can feel the warmth on my skin…" He chuckled under his breath softly, planting a soft kiss against my temple.

"What else does it feel like?" I moved my hands down my bare, flat stomach and onto my lap.

"Like electricity, I touch my skin and I feel the static, the energy…" His lips moved down my jaw, onto my ear

"Anything else?" He whispered, his hands coming down to pull me down to lay on the bed now, he crawled easily above me, keeping his weight off of me.

"I can feel…" I swallowed hard, licking my teeth, my bottom lip for any more of this drink that he gave to me "I can feel you." I pressed my hand up against his bare, hard chest, leaving my palm flat against it as he breathed in the hair that he let loose from the pony tail it was in. I heard him intake a sharp breath, and then start breathing normally a few seconds later.

"Oh darling" He whispered so lovingly against my cheek "Open your eyes" He whispered and I did, fluttering them open as I kept my eyes onto his above me. Everything was falling away, I felt free, and I didn't feel that constant pain in my chest or my gut anymore when I was looking up into those crystal, blue gray eyes "I won't let anything happen to you, ever, ever again."

"You can't promise that" I whispered breathlessly up at him.

"Yes I can" He crushed his lips down against mine, and I couldn't say that I was caught off guard, because I wasn't, I was literally begging for him to kiss me since the car ride home.


	4. Chapter 4

I felt as if I got the best night's sleep of my life when I rolled over in my bed, my face going into my soft pillows. I felt so relaxed, the tension fell off of my shoulders from the past few weeks and it was all thanks to drinking. Rolling over again, onto my back, I looked up at the ceiling and licked over my lips slowly. I ran my hands down my stomach and it growled immediately. But I didn't want to get up just yet; my stomach would have to wait a little longer.

A shower was needed, and that's all I looked forward to today. No boyfriend, no sister, no friend drama, just a shower. A long shower, sounded better. Then I remembered that today was the founding family's party thing. I leaned up and looked over at the time on the wall clock, it was just after 8. Was I really wide awake at 8am on a Saturday? I shook my head and sat up, and got out of the bed. I could go for a run, clear my head and then take a shower; there was no harm in that.

I opened up the closet where I put my things and pulled out black leggings and a long sleeve armor shirt and a sports bra and walked into the bathroom and changed. Washing my face and pulling my red hair up into a ponytail. After, I sat down on the bed and pulled on socks and my shoes and walked out of the bedroom after making my bed.

"Someone's up early"

"Speaking of which, why are you awake? When I was in high school I slept until noon time on the weekends" I smiled at Stefan who was in the living room and he nodded.

"Well big day I guess, founding family party tonight. I heard Elena invited you to come with us" I nodded

"Yeah, she wasn't kidding right? Because I do have the best dress for tonight" He eyed me casually and nodded

"You're in a really good mood" I smiled as I tightened my ponytail.

"I guess I am weird right? I'm just rolling with it for now. I'm going for a run, I should be back in an hour or something" He nodded

"Be careful, call if…" I rolled my eyes and made my way to the front door.

"I know, and I will. See ya."

Once outside, I jogged up the long drive way slowly to start off and broke out in a slow run on the main street. The cool breeze against my face just woke me up more and it felt so nice. Usually when I drank the night before, I was so hung over the next morning; I didn't understand how I was not. I shrugged while I ran and just listened to the outside world. No music was needed with me; I just needed a cool morning, with birds chirping.

Tonight was a different story. I would have to go back to pick up all of my other things soon and try to avoid people who knew me. I sighed while I ran, that was going to be a problem, and everyone knew me there.

Here? I was a stranger to these people. Running back to the Boarding House after an hour of running, I jogged up the steps after finding no one at the house and stripped from my clothes. I shaved down my body quickly and washed my hair, and then got out while hearing my phone ringing loudly on my dresser.

I grabbed it on the last ring "Hello?" I asked, out of breath from sprinting to pick it up.

"Hey, it's Elena"

"Oh hey Elena, what's up?" I wrapped the towel tighter around my naked body and walked back into the bathroom to pull together some things.

"I was wondering if you wanted me to pick you up tonight, Stefan said he's going to meet me there so plans changed" I nodded to myself

"Yeah, that'd be great. What time should I be ready?"

"6:30?" I nodded again

"Sounds good to me, I'll see you then 'Lena"

"See you then" I hung up and put my phone down on the counter and started to blow dry my hair. After my hair was dry, I walked to the closet and looked at the two dresses I threw into my bag. Then I looked at the time. 12:25pm. If only the mall wasn't so far away.

I decided on a black heart shaped halter top dress with a flow-like waist that was striped red and black, it came to just above my knees. That had to be appropriate enough. I set the dress on the bed and then grabbed a light shawl and tossed that on the bed next to it. Right now though, I needed food. Pulling on jeans and a t shirt, I walked down the steps to see Stefan drinking some type of alcohol in the sitting area.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen and he nodded

"Just taking the edge off, didn't know you were home"

"Elena said that she's coming by to pick me up for tonight's party at 6:30, I thought we were all going together?" I pulled open the fridge but there was just bread and eggs in there. I was not having that again. Maybe a stop at the Grill would have to be next on my list of things to do today.

"We were, Damon and I need to do something beforehand and then… we're just going to be a running late" I nodded and smiled "How's your head from last night?" I raised my eyebrows in confusion and then remembered.

"Oh! My drunk thing, sorry that doesn't happen often. I'm fine, never better" He nodded

"After you fell off the bed I meant, you were really drunk, Damon shouldn't have done that and I apologize."

Now I really was confused "Damon?" I looked at him funny and he walked more into the kitchen and nodded.

"Yeah he drove you back here; apparently you two were drinking last night" I blinked a few times confused.

"I don't even remember seeing him last night, except for the Grill but I ignored him pretty much and walked home" Now he raised his brow.

"Oh, I must've misheard you, he came in after you then" I nodded

"Oh okay, but yeah I ended up drinking with Ric. He's an alright guy… I'm going to head to the Grille, do you need anything to soak up that alcohol you're drinking?

"Funny" He mumbled with a grin "But no thanks, I'll see you later." I smiled at him while pulling on my shoes that I left by the door and my leather jacket and walked out of the house, pulling my bag up onto my shoulder.

"Your brother is under the impression that you brought me home last night" I nudged Damon with my elbow as I took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer and grilled chicken Caesar salad.

"Oh is he?" I glanced over at him and nodded once I put my bag and jacket down beside me.

"Why would he be under that impression?"

"No offense Red but you were pretty loud last night, maybe that's why" I rolled my eyes at his sexual joke that wasn't all that funny.

"I wasn't that drunk, I didn't even have a hangover this morning"

"Apparently so… if you were out of the house by 9am" I smirked because he had totally checked up on me. The bartender put my food and beer down in front of me and I took my beer first.

"What are you and Stefan doing tonight that will make you late to the party?" He hummed at me as if he didn't hear me or he didn't understand the question. "Stefan said that you two were doing something tonight, which was going to make you late to the party, we were all going to go to the party tonight in one car."

"You're going to the founding family kickoff party?" I nodded

"Why not, I haven't been to one since I was practically a baby"

"Um, Stefan has something wrong with his car, we're bringing it to the… shop" I nodded, not believing him but continued to eat my food "You're in a very talkative mood today" He commented a few moments later and I shrugged.

"I just feel good today" I smiled and I saw the hint of a smile form on his lips as well.

"Well good" He muttered and continued to drink his scotch and then finished it off. "I'll see you later Red" I nodded and he left me alone at the bar.

After I ate, I walked around for a while. Pulling at my hair and pulling it up into a high pony tail. As I passed a mirror in a convenience store, I stopped and looked at myself. Then I looked at my hair. Red hair was the old me. I bit down on my bottom lip and swallowed hard and walked down one of the aisles and grabbed a dark brown color and walked to the cashier and paid for it. Back to my natural color, I went.

As I entered the boarding house, no one was home, once again. I entered this house and no one was ever home and when I left, people were here. I just didn't understand it. I sat down in the sitting room and watched some television until 4 and then walked up the stairs and pulled off my clothes and shut the door. It would take at least 2 hours to get everything perfect. People were seeing me for the first time in this town and I wanted to look my best, if I could.

I dyed my hair in the large sink in the bathroom and pulled it up into the cap to let it sit as I pulled at the clothes I picked out earlier and placed them down on the bed. Grabbing my makeup bag, I laid out the things I was going to use on the counter in the bathroom and pulled out my curler and plugged it in along with my hair dryer. This would be the first time since middle school that I would have my natural color, and it was sort of scary. I put some music on my phone and put it down on the counter as I waited, did people dance at these things? Would I be the talk of the town? I hope not. Usually in small towns like these, a new person was the gossip until someone newer came along.

After 30 minutes, I washed the dye out of my hair and towel dried it the best I could and then flipped it up over my shoulders and looked at myself in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, I combed through my hair with my brush and looked it over. I looked different, to say the least. I grabbed my hair dryer and started to dry it and then started to curl it loosely and pulled the front pieces back off of my face. Then I started on makeup, putting down some light foundation, I then did eyeliner and a shadow accent on my eyelids, and then finally mascara. Looking at the time, it was 5:45. Perfect. I pulled on my black lace boy shorts and then slid into the dress. The two pairs of shoes I had were my sneakers and then the black open toed heels that I threw into my bag randomly. I guess I was using those.

Dabbing perfume onto my wrists, I pulled my heart shaped necklace onto my neck and did a quick spin in the mirror and sighed. Did I pack any bracelets? I looked through my bag and found one, it was chunky and it would work. I pulled it onto my wrist and wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and pulled my black bag up onto my shoulder just as Elena was calling me.

"I'm walking down the stairs right now" I hung up and walked out of the house, in which no one was in there again and walked to her car. I slid into the front seat.

"You colored you hair" I smiled at the obvious

"I… yeah, I did. I'm starting a new chapter in my life, and this is a start" She smiled

"Well it looks really good" I smiled back at her and thanked her. She pulled away from the house and turned the music back on the radio.

"So everyone is going to be there?" She nodded.

"Pretty much, it's an open invite to the whole town. I told my aunt about you looking for a place and she said just to find her during the party and she'll set you up with her phone number."

I smiled "Perfect, I feel like I'm invading their privacy by living there."

"It's only been a few days, and they have the room."

"Yeah, about that, I totally got lost today."

She laughed "I have too."

I smiled as she pulled up into a parking spot, in which mostly the whole place was filled with cars.

"This is… the Lockwood Mansion?" She nodded and I nodded once and stood up from the car and walked with her through the large yard and up the steps.

"Elena!" I heard a woman's voice and I turned with Elena.

"Aunt Jenna, this is Melanie" I smiled at the woman, who couldn't have been that much older than me. I held out my hand and she shook my hand lightly.

"It's so great to meet you, Elena's been telling me a lot about you. You're an Adonis, one of the last" I nodded and smiled, looking over at Elena briefly.

"You two talk, I'm going to go find Jeremy" I nodded and walked around inside with Jenna. I sipped on my champagne as we discussed the kind of place I was looking for.

"Are you sure you can afford something like that, I mean… no offense…" I smiled and waved off the apology.

"I can afford it, yeah and no offense taken. Believe me, you're in the business to make a prophet, I know." She smiled and nodded.

"As long as you know, how about I give you my number and you can swing by and we can set something up to look the place"

"Perfect" I grabbed my phone from my bag and she put her number in.

"And if you want to just talk don't hesitate to call… Elena told me what happened, car accident and losing your aunt" I nodded

"Yeah, thank you. Maybe we can grab lunch sometime" She nodded

"Sounds good to me, it was great meeting you but I have a guy calling me over." I turned and looked over in the direction she was looking with her eyes.

"Alaric, nice catch" She smiled and nodded, walking away to talk to him. I downed the rest of my drink.

"I don't think we've met" I turned and smiled at the boy and shook my head.

"Melanie" I stretched my arm out and he took my hand and kissed the back of my knuckles.

"Tyler" I smiled

"Tyler as in Lockwood?" He nodded and smiled.

"You're new around here" I nodded

"That obvious huh?" He smiled

"Well a beautiful girl like you walking around here, I would have noticed" I smiled and nodded, taking another glass of champagne once the waiter came around with one and took a long sip from the glass.

"Woman, not girl" He looked at me puzzled.

"I'm 21, and you're…?"

"Out of my league, aren't I?"

"Well if you aren't in high school…?"

"Out of my league" I smiled and nodded again.

"Yeah, jail bait and such" He smirked and laughed.

"So Melanie what's your last name?"

"Adonis" He raised his eyebrows

"Really? As in the founding family…?" I nodded

"The last, if I'm correct" He nodded

"Have you met my mother yet?"

"Yes, she wants to discuss living arrangements for me and welcome me to town finally" He laughed at my sarcasm

"She can be that way, are you staying or just visiting?"

"Staying, Jenna, Elena's aunt is setting me up with my own place."

"Why move here?" I sighed and downed the rest of my drink.

"Unfortunately I needed a change, and it's literally my home so why not move here when I have the chance?" He nodded.

"Sounds reasonable" I nodded

"Will you excuse me?" He nodded and I walked down the hallway and into the side bathroom, locking it and leaning back against the door to take a deep breath. It was so stuffy in here, so many people. Tyler was the 11th person I'd spoken to tonight. Looking at myself in the mirror, I splashed some water onto my face and patted it off with the towel and walked out, grabbing another champagne and walked by the dance floor and slowed down, Stefan was dancing with an older woman and he looked a bit drunk? I laughed under my breath and scanned the place for Elena but saw her with Damon speaking at the bar and I sighed, down casting my eyes and then back up and walked outside, pulling my black shawl around my shoulders tighter, I took a long sip from the glass of champagne that was making my brain a little fuzzy. I put my hand around the heart shaped locket around my neck and took in a deep breath.

"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting…" I heard behind me and I took another breath and turned around to face the man and smiled lightly.

"Melanie" I said and he shook my hand.

"John Gilbert" I smiled

"Elena's… uncle?" He nodded and I nodded once "She didn't mention you that's all."

He smiled and looked over my outfit quickly "I didn't know you were friends with my niece" I nodded

"Yeah, pretty much my only friend, she's great" He looked to the side of him and back at me.

"Yeah, she really is. How do you like Mystic Falls?" I shrugged and took another sip from my glass.

"It's nice, it has a home feel to it and I need that."

He smiled gently "I bet it does" He muttered.

"Excuse me, I didn't get that" I looked over at him.

"I said that I bet it does, after all this was your home for quite some time if I do recall the records" I looked at him confused.

"What?" I whispered

"The records… please don't play dumb Miss Adonis it's not cute for a woman your age. Isobel did research on you, said you died nearly 20 years ago, apparently her records were wrong" I stopped breathing at that point.

"20… years ago?" I asked slowly and he nodded "Who is Isobel?" I asked lowly.

"I'm sure you're here for Damon Salvatore, and then you'll leave. It's best if you leave as soon as possible or the council will know about you." I swallowed hard and blinked a few times.

"Damon?" John Gilbert looked at me again and nodded, looking me over once more.

"I'm sure you won't be a problem, you usually aren't from the records but if you are, this is your only warning, we'll come after you and then Damon" I nodded slowly and he turned around and walked back inside. I let out the breath that I was holding and downed the rest of my champagne. Okay that was it. I was done with this town and these people thinking I'm someone I'm not.

I tossed the champagne glass and walked down the steps and down the front lawn. "Who the fuck is Isobel, and why did he think I was going to be a problem? What the hell was going on?" I spoke to myself as I walked through the center, walking back to the boarding house to pack my shit and get a bus ticket home.

My phone started to ring about 10 minutes later as I walked and I picked it up "Yeah?"

"Where did you go?"

"I'm walking back to the Boarding house, and I'm leaving. Sorry for bothering you but your uncle is a dick and I'm really sick of getting confused for someone else."

"What, my uncle? You're walking right now? Its 45 degrees out" I hung up and put the phone back into my bag and continued to walk. I knew the temperature; I was freezing my ass off.

I opened the door to the boarding house a few minutes later and walked up the steps and to the room I was assigned to and pulled my shawl off and started to grab my clothes and put them in my suitcase, my phone ringing again.

I tossed everything in there and grabbed a piece of paper and pen and wrote down-

"Stefan – I'm leaving to go back home. I know it's sudden but thank you for being a great person and helping me when I needed the help. My best – Mel"

I walked down the hallway and into Stefan's room and walked to his desk and put it down carefully until something caught my eye. I narrowed my eyes on the bookcase and walked over to it and turned my head to look at the titles on the old books. But they weren't titles; they were dates, 1874, 1875, all in order until 2010. I pulled out the 1864 one and opened to its first page. June 7th, 1864.

_Katherine has been here at the estate for nearly a month and I've already fallen under her beautiful charm. Father doesn't approve for the simple fact that I was to be wed to Georgia Fell, but at the news of her death, I was not saddened, I was over joyed that I could be with my Katherine now, forever. _

I skimmed some of the pages until the date September 14th, 1864

_Damon does not see the gift she has graced us with. Even though Katherine has passed, and we are left here with immortality, he still doesn't see the gift._

I paused and swallowed hard. Putting the journal back and grabbed 1933.

_I have blackouts, I can't remember much and I suppose that's for the best. My list is getting much longer, though I'm sure I'm missing a few from the black outs. Damon has still yet to come across my path, it's been nearly 50 years._

The sound that passed my lips was horrifying as I put the book back into its place and ran out of the room. They were vampires. They were fucking vampires and I was living with vampires. I shut my suitcase and ran out of the room and jogged down the stairs the best I could. Then I heard the downstairs door open and shut and my eyes widened. No, no, no. I turned the corner to go out the back as I heard a voice call out my name, it was Elena's. Then I heard Damon's voice say that I wasn't there, that my things were packed up.

I slid out the backdoor and leaned against the wall out of sight in the darkness. Calm down, I said to myself and took deep, slow breaths. A few minutes and they'd stop searching and I could get out of here.

"I'll go to the bus station, she can't be far."

"Call me if she turns up" I heard Damon say to Elena as she left the house and I heard her car pull out of the driveway and I let out a long breath and walked down the dark steps of the backyard and then the lights turned on and I froze.

"What did Uncle John Gilbert say to you that has you running for the hills?" I couldn't breathe, I couldn't swallow. "Melanie?" I turned my head to look at Damon standing on the large porch, looking at me. I could see him take a sharp intake of breath "Mere…" He started to say and my eyes widened and I started running again but he was quicker, so much quicker. "Melanie, stop" I took steps back away from him, dropping my suitcase in the process. He looked at me confused. "What did John say to you, whatever it is I'm sure he…"

"You're a vampire, you're one of them, both of you are, Stefan is too" I said to him in a hard whisper and he stopped walking forward.

"He told you this?" I shook my head.

"I saw that journal, the journals"

"What journals?" My eyes widened because he was walking towards me again

"Stefan's, please" I whispered and stopped walking, and I shut my eyes "Don't hurt me, I just want to leave. I won't tell anyone, I just want to leave" My teeth chattered together from being so cold so I locked my jaw tight so that would stop and I just prayed he wouldn't come closer, that he would leave me alone.

"I'm not going to hurt you" He said and my eyes opened slowly to see him so close in front of me and I gasped as he quickly put his hand up to cover my mouth as I tried to get away from him but he wrapped an arm around my waist tightly "Calm down, I said I wasn't going to hurt you" I shook my head, tears falling from my eyes and he kept his hand over my mouth as I slowly but surely gave up on my struggling and my life. "What did John Gilbert say to you?" He took his hand away from my mouth and I shook my head, closing my eyes "I'm going to let you go but you have to promise not to run or I'll just catch you."

"He said that I… that I was here for you… that he was going to… come after me if I was a problem" He let me go then and took a few steps back.

"It's uncanny, how much you look like her Melanie"

"Who? Tell me who I look like, please" I begged

"Your mother" He said and I blinked a few times, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"My… My mother?"

"Meredith Adonis, your mother. I'm still trying to figure out how she gave birth to you, but that's beside the point right now. People think that you're her. That you're still alive and that's a problem."

"Why is it… wait" I whispered and swallowed hard "You knew my mother, you?" He nodded

"We sort of… dated" I coughed a few times and when he took a step toward me, I backed away.

"You dated my mother" He nodded slowly.

"Can we do this inside, it's freezing out and you're barely in anything" I looked down at my once tan skin, which it was pale now from being so cold. I shook my head at him, it was a trick.

"No. You dated my mother; did she know what you were?" He nodded

"She figured it out for herself"

"When was this? The man she married, she knew him since they were children" He raised his eyebrow.

"So you lied, you knew about your mother"

"I don't know anything about my mother; I know who she married, when they met, when did you two date?"

"I think you should come inside" I shook my head and then he groaned and pulled off his coat and I grabbed it and pulled it over my shoulders "We were together for two years, when she was 19 until she got sick" He whispered and I paused.

"She got sick? She was 21 when she had me, she was married" He shook his head

"You don't know anything about your mother or your father" I blinked a few times and a sickening thought came to my mind and I couldn't help myself but ask.

"Are you my dad?"

"What?!" He asked, his eyes bulging as he shook his head "No, god no."

"Oh thank god" I whispered, the sickening feeling washing away. I had thought about this guy and how incredibly good looking he was. If he had ended up being my father… that was just gross.

"Come inside, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about her" I hesitated but passed by him anyway once he had picked up my suitcase.

"Did you keep journals from when you were with her?" I whispered and he nodded

"Just for your own piece of mind… Stefan and I, we're not the kind of vampires that would take an innocent girl and torture her. We aren't like them" I looked back at him as we walked up the steps and I nodded slowly.

"I don't care" I whispered "I want to read the journals you kept of her" He nodded and walked into his room and walked to a cabinet and pulled out two and walked back.

"Don't destroy these, that's all I ask" I nodded and took them and walked into my room and locked the door behind myself and sat down on the bed, pulling the suit jacket off of my shoulders and kicking off my boots, climbing under the warm sheet and looked at the binding. "1865, 1866" It read and I kept my fingers on the binding. He must have given me the wrong ones. But when I opened the first page, and saw the first word written in perfect script, I knew that I was in for a rude awakening.

_Meredith Adonis, even her name sounds like heaven. _

I gulped and stopped reading, closing my eyes and then after a few moments, I started again.


	5. Chapter 5

I stayed in my room for 4 days, only going out when I knew no one was home to order food and then bring it back up to my room, lock the door and stay there again. I had read the two journals 9 times and every time I read them, they felt more real. There was a knock on my door on the 6th day. The first knock and it sent a shock down my system.

"Who is it?" I asked quietly.

"Damon" I heard and I bit down on my bottom lip and grabbed the journals, which I had read 20 times by now and walked to the door and opened it a crack.

"Can I help you?"

"You're becoming a hermit; I take it you read them?" I nodded slowly and slid them through the crack through the door. "Elena's been asking about you" I nodded.

"I know, I could hear her up here one of the days"

"Then why don't you come out. Stefan's out doing god knows what, and Elena's is at some Mystic Falls pageant whatever" I closed my eyes

"I don't…"

"You read the journals, I'm not that bad"

"Yes you were" I whispered "You were awful" I continued and left the door and he pushed it open more and I walked back to my bed, pulling on my sweatshirt.

"I was new at it, I'm much better now" He smirked, holding the journals in his hand.

"Apparently, you aren't attacking me like you did my mother." He sighed.

"She was gorgeous, what I can say?"

"Yeah… exactly my point" He grinned and ran his fingers over the binding of the journals. In my hand now was the photo of my mother, stuck at the age of 21 forever in 1984. The edges were being worn down from how many times it has been in my hands the past week. "Do you…" I sighed and looked over at him, leaning against one of the walls with a photograph of her as well in his hands. "Do you think of her when you see me?" He looked up from the photograph and nodded.

"With the red hair, it was different. Now you're a carbon copy of her… I'm sure with time I'll get used to it" I nodded slowly and sighed

"How can a vampire give birth? Aren't they like frozen?" He nodded.

"Still trying to figure that one out, it would help if we had some information on you, you are still a stranger practically" I raised my eyebrows.

"Why do you need information on me?"

"What hospital were you born at?" I pursed my lips.

"Richmond General" He nodded.

"I'll start from there for records; possibly point us in a direction." I nodded again and stood up, shuffling around through my suitcase that I still haven't unpacked.

"I should get going" I said and looked over at Damon.

"You're still going to leave? After knowing everything?"

"I'm not leaving. I um, have a driver coming to pick me up soon to bring me back to Virginia Beach to gather all my things" I stood.

"You're staying"

"Yes. If you don't mind, I'm just taking a wild guess that I'll be the safest here." He smirked and laughed under his breath.

"Yeah, surprisingly you would." He handed me the photograph and I slipped it into my bag. "Did you already call the driver, or do you need a ride?" I shook my head

"No, I didn't call yet… You wouldn't mind driving me down to the beach and back?" He shook his head slowly and walked down the steps beside me but I stayed stiff as a doornail, making sure to cover the side of my neck with my hair that he was on.

"No I don't mind. You probably have questions and I have answers." I nodded

"Actually I do."

"Then let's go." He twirled his keys on his finger and opened up the front door for me.

"The ring" I noticed it for the first time now, had he had it on this whole time? "That's the ring that helps you walk in the sun" He nodded.

"That was only written in there once, you remember that?"

"I read the journals nearly 20 times, I remember every detail" I mentioned and hopped into the front seat of his car and he pulled out of the driveway.

He muttered under his breath and I leaned back in the seat a bit as he drove smoothly onto the highway.

"So you met her and just instantly knew" He nodded.

"Something like that, she was just what I was looking for, even if I wasn't exactly looking" I smiled softly "She did this thing, I've seen you do it a few times" I hummed at him and he continued.

"You talk from the corner of your mouth sometimes, just slightly. I'm sure human eyes couldn't pick up on it but it's the same" I smiled

"So I really am a carbon copy" I sighed then and looked out the window "Why did you turn her when you knew she didn't want to be?" I heard him shift a bit in his seat.

"She was dying; wouldn't you do anything to save the person you loved?" I nodded and scratched the side of my neck softly

"I'm most positive anyone would, but why did you leave? You left her to fend for herself" I looked at him now and he closed his eyes for a moment then opened them.

"That's not exactly how it went down; it's what she wanted me to write"

"So you stayed with her as she turned?" He nodded

"After I force fed her blood to transition, she despised me. Went on a rampage and drained the staff, staked me a few times. I still don't think she was trying to kill me, but I could have been wrong, because she missed every time. She wasn't that soft, loving person that I came to know anymore. She was a vampire and she was pissed, I understood her. The only thing she wanted out of life was a family" He looked over at me quickly "And somehow she died succeeding that task."

I nodded and leaned against the window "I still don't understand"

"I don't either, but I'll figure it out." I nodded and continued to look at him.

"So you hated yourself" I commented a few minutes later and he nodded

"I did, and soon that faded over time. I thought that I would run into her, but never did unfortunately. Though if I did, I don't think I'd be here telling you about her now."

I smirked "Was she really that bad? The way you described her was as if she was some sort of miracle angel turned serial killer overnight" He smirked from the corner of his mouth.

"Imagine if you put a recovering alcoholic in a room full of whiskey, after force feeding that person a shot of that whiskey." I blinked a few times, trying to picture her that way, I couldn't. My mind couldn't do that.

"How many people did she kill that day?" He looked over at me quickly and then back at the road

"I don't think you want to know that" I nodded slowly, understanding what he meant. It was a lot more than I could handle. "How does Stefan know about her if he didn't meet her during that time period?"

Damon shrugged casually "He told me that he met her back in the 30's. I didn't believe him because he was going through his ripper moments back around that time."

"Ripper moments?" I asked and he nodded

"He sort of can't handle human blood, he's not pretty. So he drinks animal blood." I nodded

"And you drink?"

"Recently no one, blood bags" I nodded slowly

"No animal diet for you?"

"Stuff tastes nothing like the real thing. It's like comparing diet soda to regular coke" I slowly nodded

"Katherine" I whispered to myself "Who is Katherine? I read her name in Stefan's Journal but it didn't go into detail"

"She's an ex"

"An ex who died?" He shook his head

"She was supposedly locked under a church that burnt down and someone was supposed to unlock them after every one was gone but that didn't happen. Katherine wasn't down there anyways"

"How do you know?"

"I checked. Those vampires who grabbed you, were under that church for 146 years until a month ago" I nodded

"Then how did they know about Meredith and you?" He glanced over at me

"I really don't know the answer to that question, I wish I knew. But they grabbed you to make me suffer, and I apologize for that" I nodded

"It's alright, I'm not hurt now. Somehow…"

"I gave you vampire blood"

My eyes went wide "Why would you do that?"

"You were hurt and you needed fast repairing" I sighed and licked over my bottom lip and shuddered

"Was I awake when you did it, I don't remember…"

"No, you were asleep, after your drunken night out"

"I swear I didn't have a lot, Stefan said the same thing"

"I know he did" I smirked and he pulled off the exit. "Where exactly is it?"

"34 Water Street, it's condos on the beach." He nodded and pulled onto another street, then onto the main street. "Visiting your ex?" I shook my head

"He should be working; hopefully I don't have to run into anyone." He nodded

"Good because I really didn't plan on killing anyone today" I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath "I'm kidding" I looked over at him

"I'm not use to your murderous humor yet, give me some time" He smirked and nodded, pulling onto Water Street and up to the 34th door and parked out front. Getting out of the car, I walked up the steps and tilted the vase at the top step over and grabbed the spare key and unlocked the front door. I had a feeling no one was going to be home, and I was correct on assuming that.

Walking in a few steps, I turned back "You aren't going to be able to invite me in, so uh, just toss the boxes out and I'll load them" I nodded slowly and sighed, pulling my sweatshirt off and tossing it to the side and walked into my old room. Everything was packed. There had to be at least 8 boxes. Pulling off my sweats, I grabbed a box and opened it up, pulling on a light sweater and skinny jeans. I closed up the box and pulled on my flats, while pulling up my hair into a high ponytail.

Picking up a box, I walked through the hall and down to the front door, where he was still leaning against the side of the barrier that was in place, so he couldn't get in. I didn't own this place anymore; he must have known that instantly. He took the box in his hands "How many do you have in there?"

"Um, around 8"

"Around 8" He said and shook his head "Women and their clothes" He muttered while he walked down the steps and to load the box into the backseat of his car. I kept my eyes on his back while he walked. I could close this door right now; he wouldn't be able to get in. I could stay here, and forget about vampires. Forget about everything that his journals had done to change my mind about my mother and about life in general. My hand found the edge of the door and my hand gripped it tight, until my knuckles were turning white.

The pro's overweighed the cons in this situation. Everyone here knew me. I needed fresh faces or I would go crazy. My hand dropped from the door just as he was turning around from his car to come back up to grab another box and that's when I turned to go back into my room to grab another. I would have to deal with Greg here, and the heartache that I still felt. It was as if it were an hour ago that I watched my baby sister walk out of his bathroom, wrapped in my towel, dripping from head to toe.

I shuddered as I handed Damon another box, then walked back to the room. I'd have to deal with people here who knew me, knew what I've done in my life, how I became this overly rich person. I'd still have people fighting over to be my best friend, to go on dates with me, to be with me at all times.

Box after box, I handed to Damon and he loaded them into his car, backseat and trunk. After the last box, I told him to give me a minute and he only nodded as I walked back to my room and looked around, grabbing things from shelves that I would need. Looking through the empty closet, I sighed, wrapping my arms around my chest.

"I didn't think you'd be back" I heard from the doorway of my room. I could only close my eyes, and pray that my ears were deceiving me. "So that's it?" I opened up my eyes and turned around to face her.

"There's nothing left for me here" I said honestly.

"What about me? What am I supposed to do? I'm not making enough at the grocery store to afford rent here with just Trisha" My eyes widened as I starred at her.

"What are _you_ supposed to do?" I asked and laughed under my breath "Cameron, you slept with Greg, my fiancé. I don't even know how long it has been going on either. The only reason I put up with you is because your dad was a stupid drunk and could've careless where you ended up."

I could see her swallow hard, shifting her weight from her left to her right leg; she was uncomfortable. "So I was a burden" She whispered and I sighed

"No, you weren't a burden Cam, just an inconvenience. I'm only 21, dad died when I was 18 and I just had to take care of you because you were only going into high school. You would have been put in the system. You were the only family I had left, same goes for you and you just threw that away. What were you even thinking?"

"I wasn't-"

"Don't you dare tell me that you weren't thinking? It was Greg, Cameron, My Greg. My fiancé for gods-sake and you slept with him… how can someone do that to family?" She tensed a bit and took a step forward.

"You made it clear that I was smaller than you, all the time. Perfect boyfriend, perfect job, perfect life and for just once, I wanted it all to go away. Greg was there and he didn't stop, he actually enjoyed himself. Did I feel bad? Towards the end I did, but I fell in love with him."

Now I was the one uncomfortable. I was two seconds away from slapping her across the face.

"Perfect life? You think I have a perfect life?"

"You do" She said back to me and I started to laugh.

"Yeah it's so peach perfect that I was put up for adoption because my own mother died when I was born. I never got to meet her, or my father for that matter. I grew up with a whore of a mother and a drunk as a father. Then when they both died, the court system told me that because I was of legal age, I would either have to take care of you until you were 18, or put you in the system. What did I do? Because I thought you were my only family left, I put college on hold just so I could take care of you. I missed half of my senior year to take care of you, and I nearly failed at getting my diploma because I was working double jobs so you could go on field trips to New York and California."

"Oh don't give me that Melanie; you had well over 100 million dollars when you turned 19."

"WHEN I TURNED 19!" I exploded on her now, "I WAS 18, I HAD 200 DOLLARS TO MY NAME!" She took a step back then and looked down.

"I didn't…" She started but then shut up quickly.

"Oh of course you didn't know, because you're a teenager, why would I burden you with my money problems? I wanted you to have fun on field trips with your friends. I wanted you to have as normal as a life as possible. You had lost your biological mother and father in less than 4 years. I wanted to give that to you." She nodded slowly, and now I could see the tears filling her blue eyes. "When I saw you walk out of that bathroom… It was as if all I did was for nothing. That you actually turned into the girl that I didn't want you to be, after everything I was doing for you and then this happened. Yeah, so I freaked out and left for three weeks. You'd do the same."

"I'm sorry" She said and I swallowed back the tears threatening to spill over as well, because now she was really crying.

"I don't want your apology Cameron, it falls on deaf ears. I'm leaving Virginia Beach, and I'm not coming back."

"Where are you going?" She choked out and then she took a few steps forward "I'm sorry, just please don't leave. I need you here."

"No you don't. And I'm going somewhere that I actually feel safe for once. Someplace that I can start fresh, because believe it or not I need that for once in my life Cameron" I slipped my hand into my back pocket, in which I had wrote out a check for her, which I was going to leave it on her bed a few rooms down.

"You don't have to go though, I swear I can do better and I'll move out"

"Where are you going to move to?"

"I don't know. Trisha hates me, and I don't blame her. I hate myself so much."

"Don't." I whispered and she looked at me, her eyes puffy and red now. "Don't hate yourself, what you did… you can't take it back, but you can learn from it and never do it again. What did I tell you when Bobby Ryan broke up with you freshman year?"

She sniffled and said "You're going to find your other half in life because Zeus made sure of it" I nodded at her words.

"And you're going to be fine. Sure, maybe not for a while but you're going to get it together and you're going to be a great person someday. You'll be someone's other half, and you'll have babies and whatnot with him, and have a happy, normal life." She took another step and then another until she was finally hugging me tightly. I bit back the curses that I was going to say and bit my tongue hard.

I patted her back softly "I really have to go, my rides outside and he's not that great of a patient person." She nodded and pulled back, and I gripped the piece of folded check in my hand.

Then I handed it to her "What is this?" She asked me softly and I sighed

"It's something that you need to start that life. You graduated high school; you're working at a grocery store. Quit the job, and move somewhere that you seem fit for you. Make friends, have fun. Just be a kid for a little while longer."

She nodded and opened the check up and froze "I can't… Melanie this is way too much" I nodded

"Maybe, but when am I going to spend it?"

"It's… I can't." She held out the check to me to take it.

"I'm not taking it back, and if you don't deposit it in the next few days, I'll just have the money wired into your account. So deposit it. Have fun." She nodded, her hands shaking. "You can… walk me to the door if you want?" She nodded and I wrapped an arm around her as she silently sobbed against my shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you so much"

"I know, hey who knows, maybe we'll cross paths someday and just laugh about this?" She nodded, but I wasn't hoping that would happen at all. This girl broke my heart and soul more than Greg could possibly ever do.

"I love you sis"

"Love you too" I whispered and hugged her one last time before letting her go, seeing Damon leaning against the side of the car, arms crossed over his chest, looking at the ground and then he finally moved an inch and looked up at me while I walked down the small path.

"Everything all finished up in there?" I nodded slowly, my jaw tense

"We can leave now, I'm done" He nodded and opened up the passenger's side door and I slid in and sat down, then he shut the door, walking to his side and hopped in and started the car.

The drive was silent, until half way on the high way he said "I didn't know you had that much money" I sighed

"You were listening"

"Had to make sure you were alright and she didn't stab you or anything" I nodded slowly "What you did in there, she'll appreciate it someday"

"I don't want to talk about it Damon." I sighed and looked out the window, biting my tongue to stop the burning in my eyes. She would never truly appreciate it, I knew my sister. I knew how she ticked. She'd take a trip to New York, spend all the money on a pent house and find another guy. He must have nodded because he did in fact shut up.

I took a deep breath, keeping my emotions under control. "Do you need anything from the store or…?" I shook my head

"Just back to the Boarding House would be great. Unpack and everything." The rest of the ride was in silence, and I thanked him mentally for that. Once back at the Boarding House, he helped unload the car, putting all the boxes in my new room.

"I'm going out for a while so…" I nodded towards him

"Go ahead. Thanks for today." He nodded and walked down the hallway as I busied myself with unpacking. I hung up all of my clothes and set all of my shoes on the shelf. Then came the sheets and such so I just changed those and then undressed to take a long, needed shower. After a half an hour shower, I dressed again and pulled on my black flats and grabbed my bag, letting my curly and wavy dark hair come free from the bun it was in.

Oh, I needed a strong drink; I whispered to myself and started to walk down the driveway and to the nearest store, which wasn't very far away. I picked out a bottle of Bourbon, Whipped Cream Vodka, and Gin. Grabbing the two bags, I walked back to the Boarding House and walked by Stefan who was coming out of his room.

"You're back" I nodded and half smiled.

"Sorry about me being a mess"

"We're all messes sometimes, don't worry about it. Are you alright now?" I nodded, shifting a bit

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Just adjusting to everything around me slowly"

"If you have any questions about anything"

"I'll come ask you, I will but Damon's journals pretty much summed it all up for me."

"Damon's journals?"

"He gave me two of his journals to read, when he first met Meredith, help me understand a little bit more" He nodded slowly, looking me over quickly.

"That must be a first, he doesn't do that" I nodded

"It's okay, I know he's only nice to me because he looks at me and sees my mother. I get it, I'll take it." He sighed deeply

"I'm not so sure about that Mel, Damon can surprise you" I nodded and shifted the bottles in my hands.

"I'll let you go, I have more unpacking to do" He nodded and I walked by him into my room and shut the door. Putting the bottles down on the bed and pulling off my leather jacket and tossing it onto the dresser. I tossed my shoes off and grabbed my iPod and the IPod dock and set it up near the dresser and turned it up so it was drowning out my thoughts.

Pulling up the two bags, I put the three bottles on the dresser and tossed the bags away into the small trash bin in the corner. "Eanie meanie miny moe, catch a tiger by its toe…" I started as I tapped the three bottles to figure out on which I was going to start with. Finally my finger landed on the Bourbon bottle and I smirked, taking it and unscrewing the cap.

Going to the door, I safely locked it and turned the music louder, once I knew no one was going to come up here and knock on the door to turn it down. The house was large enough, I'm sure they couldn't even hear me downstairs until they got to the end of the hallway. Leaning against the door, I took my first sip and swallowed hard. It was smooth but it burned like lava. Shaking my head, I took a few more sips and walked to the bed and opened up my laptop and sat down Indian style.

Opening up my online banking account, I checked the balance and nodded, then checked the balance of another account of mine and smirked, shaking my head and downing two gulps of the alcohol. Cameron deposited the amount an hour ago. She only waited an hour until she cashed it. What a bitch, I thought. Why did I give her the money? Why would I do that? It was my mother's money, my money. She didn't deserve any of it, especially now…

Leaning back against my bed, I looked up at the ceiling as I turned my head and drank more from the bottle. In less than an hour, the bottle was half way gone. But I could care less at this point; I could care less about anything but this amazing song that was blaring through my new room.

Twirling around the room, I tipped the bottle up and put it back on the dresser, grabbing another and unscrewing the cap and tossing it away. Holding myself up against the dresser, I stumbled and fell onto the bed laughing. Thank god I didn't spill it. My shaking hand wrapped around the bottle firmer and I took a few gulps and put it down on the night stand and pulled myself onto the bed. Looking at the laptop, I muttered "You ungrateful piece of shit."

A photo from last summer in Bora Bora was on the screen. I was clad in a white bikini, and Greg was in his tan shorts, a backwards baseball hat on his head. His arms were around my waist, I was in his arms, my head resting on the side of his shoulder. It was a photo that Cameron took of us. Come to think of it, Cameron and Greg got along well that summer and then by the end of that trip, they barely spoke. I closed my eyes. Why didn't I see it sooner? All the signs were there and I didn't realize. Mood swings all the time and when I would want to get them together, they either refused or they made other plans.

I grabbed the bottle and took another long sip and put it between my crossed legs on the bed and looked at another photo, Greg, myself, Trish and Cameron on the beach in Bora Bora and Greg and Cameron were standing beside each other, smiling. Then I flipped to the next. The last day of our vacation and they were on opposite ends of the photograph this time, Cameron looked as if she were going to be sick and Greg, he just screamed agitated.

That's when the tears brimmed my eyes. Because I knew, I knew what had happened. It was the night of the beach party, Cameron wasn't feeling good so Greg took her back to the room and he was going to be back after he settled her in. They were like brother in sister in my eyes, and I loved that about them. They were always happy, always playing around.

By the time Trish and I had enough drinks in our system, Greg was there so I didn't notice him being gone for a good 2 hours. I had asked him how Cameron was doing, and he looked uncomfortable, saying that she was fine, that she must have ate something fishy. I had brushed it off because I was busy, because I didn't realize that could ever happen.

That's when it started. That's the first night they slept together… that was last summer in June… I blinked a few times, finally realizing that I was sobbing. Heartbreakingly sobbing and I put my hands over my face to cover my eyes from the photo of the morning after. I had told Greg to bring her back to the room because I was having too much fun. I caused this to happen.

I wiped my face and grabbed ahold of the bottle and took more gulps. I pushed them together. I made them like this. I was blaming them this whole time when it was me that caused this to happen. I had knocked the laptop off of the bed, while trying to get the feeling back in my legs to get up. Then, I had rolled off the bed trying to get the laptop to see if it broke. I had too much and now it was all catching up to me, making my eyes fuzzy and my whole body weak, but the sobbing didn't stop.

"I can't do anything right" I muttered in a whisper to myself, turning my head to the side. It was dark in my room now, the music still loud, pounding against my ears and yet my bathroom light was on, giving a soft glow to my room. I smiled through the tears and turned my spinning head to look up at the ceiling. The pale brown ceiling, it looked as if shapes were made into the wood on purpose. And everything happened for a reason. Closing my eyes, I took a deep solid breath and kept still. Images started to pop up into my head, words of whispers and faces of Stefan and Damon.

_"__Damon said he was going to tuck me in, I tripped" _

_"__Are you drunk?"_

It quickly shifted, making me uncomfortable, so I rolled onto my side, opening my eyes to stare at the glow of light against the wall_. _

_"__I told you I'd tuck you in; you couldn't wait 5 minutes until I showered"_

_"__Are you naked?"_

I could hear his chuckle in my head; see a flash of his pearl white teeth.

_I was groaning now, in pain, holding the back of my head where it was tender from it being smashed into the concrete wall a few nights ago. I felt his fingers pulling me up quickly and easily to my feet and I sat down on the edge of the bed. "Let go, let me see" _

_"__Ow, stop" _

_"__Still tender, you could have a concussion." _

_"__Where are you taking me?" _

_"__The kitchen to grab ice" _

_"__I told you not to fall asleep" _

_"__Drink this for me?" _

_"__It wasn't that bad, though the iron is really strong." _

_"__I can feel you." I heard him intake a sharp breath, and then start breathing normally a few seconds later. _

_"__Oh darling" He whispered so loving against my cheek._

It wasn't a dream, as I blinked against the tears in my eyes as they fell down the side of my face and temples, onto the carpeted floor beneath me. It wasn't a dream. I took in a shaky breath, as more images flashed through my head. Us together in the bed, slowly kissing each other until we were both light headed, or at least for myself… and I remember seeing his blue eyes sucking me in.

_"__You aren't going to remember tonight, you will only remember walking home from the Grill tonight, passing me by and coming home to sleep… and you will wake up tomorrow morning, early, and be happy for at least a day… you won't remember any of this, do you understand?" _

I blinked a few times and rolled over onto my back, leaning up with a heavy heart and grabbed the bottle of gin and poured some into my mouth and swallowed hard. Why did he do that? Why would he compel me to forget, and then act as if nothing happened? I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head, pouring more into my mouth and pushed myself up to sit and then put the bottle down onto the dresser and gripped the sheets and pulled myself up onto the bed, leaving the laptop on the floor because frankly I couldn't grab it even if I tried.

Brushing my fingers back through my dark hair as I lay on the bed, and then the light was flooded through the room and I closed my eyes, putting a pillow over my head so I didn't go blind.

The music shut off then "You weren't answering the door, why'd you even lock it?" I groaned and inwardly asked how he got in if it was locked, but that didn't matter. "Mel?" I heard him ask closer to me this time and then the pillow was off of my head and I tried to grab it from him but he held it too high and I was too drunk to move again.

"Give me it" I muttered in a whisper and he looked me over and then turned to look at the bottle of gin on the side table.

"Having a party that I wasn't invited to?"

"I hate you" I whispered and rolled over, my back facing him.

"Why this time?" He asked

"You know why" I whispered and grabbed the other pillow and tried to pull it over my head but he grabbed that quickly

"I helped you today, which isn't my thing. So why do you hate me?"

"You compelled me to forget" He paused, looking over my body quickly

"Compelled you to forget what exactly?"

"That you can actually be sweet, that you took care of a drunken girl when she hit her head... That you kissed me" I turned over now and looked up at him through my foggy green eyes. "Why would you do that?" He looked down at me and shook his head, taking a few steps back while taking a long swing from my gin bottle. I waited for his answer and finally got fed up with it and pushed myself up and stood up but my knees were like Jell-O and before I could catch myself an arm was wrapped around my waist, holding me up against him. "You're an ass" I whispered at him and he nodded

"I know"

"Why did you do it?"

"I'm not stable, you're not stable. You weren't supposed to remember" He said, his arm still snaked around my waist, my front against his front. He took another long sip from the bottle "How are you even still awake anyways?" I rolled my eyes.

"You compelled me, messed with my head"

"You weren't supposed to remember"

"What? You kissing me?" He dropped me back onto the bed and took another step back; drinking from the bottle like it was water.

"We have a problem, that's why I offered to take you back to your house today" He said and I looked up at him, my hands in my lap.

"What type of problem?" I asked softly, my words slurring

"Isobel problem, she's back in town and she wants to meet Elena."

"Why would that be a problem?"

"Isobel is a vampire, she's Elena's biological mother. She threatened to kill a lot of people if they don't meet, which I don't see any harm in that" I raised my eyebrows again

"Huh? Oh, right Isobel. You told me about her earlier" He nodded

"And for some reason, I have a feeling she wants to meet you but we're hoping that she doesn't know you're here."

"Why?" I asked

"Because according to Ric she was fascinated with Meredith" I nodded

"Well, interesting" I muttered and stood up slowly again to get to the bathroom but he was there to catch me again.

"Stop getting up. I'm starting to think you like me holding onto you and you shouldn't"

"What if I did?" I smirked at him and he shook his head

"You are wasted, so you're getting a pass on that comment. Time to go to sleep" I shook my head and pressed my hands against his chest and instantly it felt like a wave of anger came over me and I pushed against him again

"Let me go" I whispered but he didn't, he just looked at me and then a wave of sudden sadness came over me "Damon, please, let me go." He looked at me with concern now

"What's wrong?" He asked me "It's alright, you can stay awake. I was just suggesting…" I shook my head and closed my eyes

"Let me go, let me go"

"You're bleeding" He whispered, letting me sit down on the edge of the bed by myself and I put my fingers up to my nose and pulled back to see red, crimson blood on my fingertips. He was gone and back in a flash with a wash cloth and I took it and pressed it to my bleeding nose.

"I'm fine, it happens a lot" I whispered, holding the cloth to my nose and pulled it back, wiping my nose and he crouched down a bit and took the cloth from me and wiped against my nose again, and then around the side of my lip.

"Happens often? How often?" I shrugged and he sighed, tossing the rag away and helping me lay back down on the bed.

"It only happens when I'm really drunk" I whispered "I um, feel all these emotions and then it just happens. It's like my brains working on over drive" He nodded

"Drinking thins the blood, it's understandable" I nodded slowly and he sighed

"Will you stay?" He shook his head

"I came in here to check how you were doing… apparently not too great" He picked up the laptop from the ground and the screen lit up. "Who's this?" He asked and he sat down on the edge of the bed by my knees.

"We went to Bora Bora last summer for vacation… that's Greg, myself, Trisha and Cameron, my sister" He looked over the photo again and rose his eyebrow

"You were looking at old photos of your ex while you drank… not a good combo"

"It wasn't him that I was looking at. I was trying to figure out when it happened"

"When what happened?"

"When they started sleeping together, and that's the morning after photo." He looked back at me quickly

"How do you know?"

"Look at the last photo, then this one. They were like brother and sister, always messing around. They got along great, until after the party. She was sick from having food earlier in the day, I told Greg to take her back to the room because I was busy. That's the first night they slept together." I saw his jaw tense and he nodded slowly and skipped through the photos casually "wow" He whispered and my eyes fluttered open to see the photo he was on and I nodded, half asleep and half wasted.

"I didn't know you modeled" He whispered and I shook my head

"Sometimes" I whispered and hit his side "Shut it off and come to bed" I whispered again and he chuckled under his breath and I heard the faint sound of him tossing my laptop onto something soft on the floor and rolling over me and I groaned from his body weight and he laid there next to me, not touching me. I shook my head and rolled over onto my side and pulled myself up against his side, resting my head on his soft chest. His arm came up to wrap around the side of my waist, pulling me against him a bit snugger.

"You have to admit it; you like this" He whispered and I smirked softly to myself.

"Don't flatter yourself" I smiled softly and drifted off moments later.


	6. Chapter 6

Waking up was harder than I could imagine. My head was pounding and all I could remember was Damon being in bed with me last night. I groaned and rolled over onto my side, feeling the jeans on my legs constricting me from stretching. My eyes fluttered open slowly and then shut again, then opened fully to take in the room. Kicking the sheets off of me, I sat up as slow as possible and then stood up, holding the dresser for support.

Into the bathroom I went as I pulled off the jeans finally that were unbuttoned and unzipped, yet not fully off. Then I pulled off my shirt and bra and turned on the shower. After a long, cold shower to wake myself up. I walked back through my room, a towel snug around my body.

"Nice view, better than last night" I turned around sharply from the closet. How did I not see him sitting there?

"What are you…?" I started but then my eyes went wide as I hid behind the closet door "Get out, what are you doing in here?" He was chuckling now

"Came in to see how you were feeling" I sighed and pulled on black lace underwear and a matching bra, then jeans and a v neck t shirt. Picking up the towel from the floor, I walked out of the closet and nodded

"Hungover" I hung the towel up to dry in the bathroom and plugged in my hair dryer and started to brush through it before drying it, maybe he'd go away if I ignored him. But apparently that was an invitation to walk into the bathroom and lean against the side of the doorway, looking at me in the mirror as I dried my wet hair. "What?" I asked him and he smiled at me softly.

"You could have told me that you were some mega model" I shook my head

"I would have, if I was" I said and continued to blow dry my hair

"Well with all of the Google shit I found on you…" I sighed "Angel Adonis" He said my stage name and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"So what? I signed a deal with some modeling agency a year ago, I'm still me" He nodded and rolled his eyes

"Still would have been nice to know who you actually were, what you did for a living"

"You didn't need to know, I'm trying to start over, remember?" He nodded and put his hands up

"I wasn't saying you weren't… just a heads up just in case TMZ comes by" The blow dryer shut off and I turned around

"TMZ came by?" He smirked

"No, but it could happen" I sighed again and threw my hair brush at him and put the blow dryer down on the counter as I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and walked by him, back into my room. "So you're just going to give it all up?" He stated and I shook my head

"Just stop for now, maybe pick it up in a few months or whatever" I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen and opened up the fridge and looked back at him "Who stocked up the fridge?"

"Elena thought that you'd need some food, so she and Stefan went food shopping" I nodded and smiled softly, pulling out an apple and closing the door and leaned against the counter top. Taking a bite, I smiled and looked at Damon again "What did we do last night? All I remember was you in bed with me" He smirked and shrugged

"I don't know, what do two attractive people do when they're in bed together?" I put the apple down and shook my head

"Nice try, but I remember falling asleep. So try again, what did we do?" He sighed and came by me and grabbed my apple and took a bite and walked away. "Hey, that was mine"

"And now it's mine Angel" I shook my head and walked behind him into the sitting area "We talked. You were a mess. You had a bloody nose. That's it" I nodded and blinked a few times, images of Damon kissing me popping into my head.

"We spoke about how you compelled me to forget that you kissed me, yeah I remember that" He turned around and looked me over casually

"How did you break that compulsion, that's a little strange?"

"What's strange is that you kissed me, when I was clearly too drunk" He smirked and shrugged his shoulders

"You enjoyed yourself sweetheart, maybe you don't remember that part" I sighed

"Oh I remember that part very clearly. I'm headed over to Elena's. I should probably thank her for the food and see how she's doing with that whole Isobel thing" He nodded

"Yeah be careful around town, anything comes up give me a call" I nodded

"Will do sugar" I winked at him and he shook his head and turned back around to read something at a desk. I walked up the steps and pulled on my shoes and jacket and got out of the house into the crisp fall air. Once at her house, I knocked on the door and waited and finally it opened up.

"Melanie, what a surprise… you haven't been around lately I was sure you left to go back home" I shook my head at Jenna and smiled

"No, I'm actually staying with the Salvatore's, they had plenty of room and it's nice."

"With Stefan and Damon?" She asked and I nodded slowly

"Is Elena home by any chance?"

"She's actually in school still, she usually heads over to the Grill after though" I nodded

"Oh that's right. I've been so out of it lately with unpacking and stuff to not notice that it was a school day." She smiled and nodded

"I was just headed out though, so um, the best place you can go is the Grill, schools out in a half hour." I nodded

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll see you around." She smiled and nodded and I jogged down the steps of her porch and slid my hands into my jacket and walked to the Grill and slid into a booth off to the side out of view from the front doors.

"My names Amanda, can I start you off with a drink?" I smiled up at the woman

"Rum and coke, please"

"Can I see some ID?" I nodded and pulled out my wallet from my jacket pocket and handed her my ID as she checked it over and then looked at me. "Thank you" I nodded and slid the ID back into my wallet and back into my jacket. "I'll um, be right back with your drink Miss Adonis."

I nodded and raised my eyebrows in confusion at her sudden shift of mood and walked back to the bar to get my drink. I looked over the menu and decided on a burger and fries. She placed my glass down on the table in front of me.

"Did you decide on what you'd like to eat?" I nodded

"Cheese Bacon Burger and fries" She nodded and wrote that down quickly and smiled

"You probably get this all the time but you look a lot like Angel Adonis, that girl in the Dierks Bentley video" I smiled at her and nodded

"If you can keep a secret, I would tell you that I was her" She smiled wide

"I knew it!" She whispered loudly and I smirked and took a sip from my glass and put it back down on the table "But you have to keep it a secret, okay?" She nodded in excitement

"Can I get your autograph?" I nodded and she pulled out a napkin

I smiled and took the pen she handed me and I quickly wrote in script "Thanks for being a fan Amanda! – Angel Adonis xo" I handed her the pen and napkin and she smiled

"Thank you so much, I'll be back with your food ASAP" She gave me a huge smile and I looked down at the table once she walked away. That was what I was giving up. I was giving up making people happy by just meeting me. My food came back in less than 5 minutes and I ate everything. I didn't realize how hungry I actually was until I started munching.

I ordered 3 more rum and cokes and had a nice buzz going when someone slid into the booth across from me. I looked at Stefan and my eyebrows rose. "I'm taking it because you're here that school is out?" He nodded

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" I smiled

"Having a few drinks and just had the best burger ever. Elena here yet?" He nodded and I smiled "Well where is she? I have to talk to her"

"Damon didn't fill you in?" I looked at him in confusion

"Fill me in on what?"

"Isobel is coming today to meet Elena" My mouth popped open

"I didn't think it was today, Damon told me but he didn't…" I shook my head in confusion

"So you can't be here when she gets here" I looked at him again

"Why not?"

"Because she's a little obsessed with finding you and picking your brain" I nodded

"I should go then" I grabbed my wallet and put down some money for my food and drink and started to slide out of the bar until Damon pushed me back into the seat against the wall.

"Don't move and don't speak, she's here" I closed my eyes and nodded. Leaning my back against the booth seat and Stefan easily slid out of the seat and walked over by the pool tables to keep an eye on Elena. I took in a deep breath and looked over at Damon who had picked up my drink and started to drink it casually. I was about to protest, when I remembered that I couldn't speak. He then pulled out his phone and typed in a few numbers, then slid it over to me "Want to make a run for it? She's not looking" I nodded and he took his phone back and slid out of the booth and took my hand and walked with me outside casually and we walked across the street to the park, where Alaric was sitting on the bench, obviously waiting as well.

It was 10 minutes later that Damon wrapped an arm around me, tightening his arms around my waist so that I was blocked from the view of the grill. Oddly enough, when he let me go slowly, I didn't want to be let go. That was the first time, being sober that he was holding me and it was nice. I felt safe.

"I knew you couldn't keep your hands off of me for 24 hours" He smirked and rolled his eyes,

"You can go talk to Elena now" I nodded and jogged across the street and into the Grill just as Bonnie was turning around and walking out. I had met Bonnie briefly at the party at the Lockwood's. Elena looked upset as Stefan's arms were around her and she held onto him tight.

"Elena?" I asked and her head turned slightly, tears were welled up in her eyes but she wasn't crying.

"Melanie" She whispered and then looked at Stefan and he nodded, letting her go and she came over to me and I hugged her, rubbing her back gently.

"Want to go take a walk, rent some movies and talk about it?" She nodded and I smiled at Stefan softly while he mouthed the words "Thank you" I nodded and smiled at him softly, walking with her outside and started to walk down the sidewalk to her house.

"Damon told me that she was looking for me as well" Elena nodded and glanced over at me

"She didn't say a word about you, but apparently she said something to Alaric about trying to find you." I nodded and walked into her house with her and up the stairs to her room. "It just sucks. I thought meeting my biological mother would be the best thing imaginable but it turned out that she just wanted me to get Damon to give her this device." I nodded

"What device?"

"Pearl gave him a device, I don't know what it does but Isobel and John Gilbert want it, so it has to be powerful in some sort of way" I nodded

"I really came here at the wrong time didn't I?" She laughed under her breath and nodded

"Things were very different before Stefan and Damon"

"I bet things were" I whispered and pulled off my jacket "So tomorrow, what are you doing?"

"Helping out with the floats for the founders day parade"

"Fun" I said and she laughed

"Yeah, you should totally come by, I'm sure it'll be a blast" She said sarcastically and I nodded

"Oh yeah, sounds fun" She laughed and sighed, sitting down on the bed.

"Okay, so spill. How are you doing since you found out? It's been a few weeks" I nodded

"I processed it. Now I'm dealing with it. Damon's still trying to get information on how I look exactly like my mother, my vampire, dead mother who he is still love with" She shook her head

"It's weird, a vampire having a child. Damon told me that it was impossible."

"It is. That's why we're trying to figure out how she had me." She nodded, leaning back a bit

"And you moved in?" I nodded

"Yeah, Damon drove me back to my place, gave my sister a large amount of cash to get her on her feet and then left" She nodded

"So your sister was there?" I nodded "How was that?"

"Painful. I wanted to grab the nearest hammer and hit her in the head with it. I had a conversation with her that she needed to hear and I needed to get off my chest, then handed her a check and left. Checked last night when I got back after unpacking, she deposited the check very quickly. Just like her, as always." I shook my head and sighed and I felt her hand come down on my shoulder and squeeze it gently

"Siblings can be very ungrateful, and I'm sure it's safe to say that what you did was hard" I nodded and smiled as her hand left my shoulder. "Please don't tell me you and Damon have a thing" I looked over at her as she was looking through her drawer and I shook my head

"Me and Damon, well…" I sighed "I got insanely drunk and apparently that's the only time I can deal with him being very close. We might have kissed, I barely remember it" I said, looking out her window.

"Kissed? Well just don't fall for him, he's an asshole. He doesn't care for anyone but himself" I nodded

"I know, he just hasn't shown me his asshole side yet. I'm not looking forward to it. I'm actually convinced that he only likes me because I look like Meredith; he told me that at first I reminded him of her. Now? I'm just this girl, at least I hope."

"I hope so too" She said

"I should go grab some movies, what do you want to see?"

"I don't care, comedy, I don't need any horror right now" I nodded and stood up, grabbing my jacket and slipping it on.

"I'll be back in a jiffy" She smiled and nodded, walking into the hallway as I walked down the steps and back outside. Zipping up my jacket, I walked down the steps and started to walk down the sidewalk and to the red box that was by the square. Tapping the screen, I flipped through the movies and picked a new comedy and a love story and they slowly came out of the machine. Crossing the street with them in my hand, I walked through the park and across the next street, back onto Maple.

"Hey, I don't think we've met" I looked to my side at the rather good looking guy that was jogging across the street to me. I stopped and smiled at him. Wow he was good looking. He was more southern too, which I could easily pick up on. I held out my hand and he took it and shook it gently.

"Melanie" He smiled wide

"Jeffery" I pulled my hand back and smiled at him "Pleasure to meet you Melanie, I heard there was a new face in town but just haven't come across you yet"

"Well now you have" I smiled at him and started to walk again

"I'm headed in the same direction, you mind?" He said as I glanced towards him again and I shook my head. "So where are you from?"

"Virginia Beach" I said and looked over at him again "Did you grow up here or move here?"

"Moved, just a couple of months ago. Are you enjoying it so far?" I nodded

"Yeah, I had my summers here sometimes so I'm not too lost when I'm around" He nodded and smiled

"So movie night?"

"Yeah, just a friend of mine and myself" He smiled at me

"Well if you're around, I'm sure I'll see you." I nodded and held out my hand again to him and he took it gently in his "It's been a pleasure, really" He whispered and I nodded, my eyes fanning over his face now and I started to turn but he grabbed my arm and wrapped an arm around my waist and another hand pressed against my mouth. I struggled against his hold, but he backed up and he tossed me into a dark van and then it was completely pitch black. That's when I started screaming so loud that my ears popped. Someone in a black hood was driving, and I tried the back door several times but it was locked.

"Let me go please, I'll give you anything you want" I begged. Images of being taken just under a month ago flashed through my head and I cringed, tears coming down my face. The car came to a jerking stop and the back sliding door opened up and Jeffery grabbed my ankle but I kicked at him and he stumbled a bit and that's when I ran like hell. I didn't know where we were, there was a big white house and dead trees and plants all around but I just kept running. I fumbled with my phone that I had put in my back pocket and put it up to my ear while I ran.

"Well hello there" I heard Damon say casually into the phone.

"I need help!" I screamed into the phone frantically "Someone grabbed me and I'm running. I don't know where I am Damon" I kept running until I felt something wrap around my ankle and I tripped and started to cough

"Calm down calm down, who took you?" I pushed myself back up

"This guy Jeffery, I don't know if it's his real name or not, please help me" I begged into the phone and pushed myself up and started running again through the dark, into the woods. An arm wrapped around my waist and I was pulled back against a body.

"There you are, you shouldn't run off again"

"No! LET ME GO!" I screamed and started to struggle as he pulled the phone out of my grasp, nearly breaking my hand during the struggle.

"If you move one more inch, I'm going to snap your neck, don't test me" I stopped moving then and he chuckled under his breath, pushing my phone into his pocket and walked backwards from the woods and then pushed me forwards, pressing his hand to the front of my throat as we walked slowly and I stumbled a few times but he finally got me into the house. "Sit" He ordered and I closed my eyes and turned around, sitting down in the chair and he started to wrap my wrists down and then my ankles.

"Leave" I heard a new voice, a female voice. She walked in now, dressed all in black, black hair, porcelain face. She was gorgeous, and yet, I instantly had a deep hatred towards her.

"Isobel I presume" I gritted out, trying to move my wrists but they wouldn't budge.

"Fascinating… just look at you. You look exactly like your mother. John was way too into his own head to not notice who you actually were…" Her fingers brushed my dark hair back to get a good look at my face and I groaned out when she pulled at it too tightly against my scalp. "I'm sorry about Jeffery and this… but if I can get two things while I'm here then it won't be a total disaster." She slouched down a bit and looked over my face and I looked over hers, committing it to memory. "I'm sure Damon will be on his way now that you've called him. You see…" She started to pace back and forth, while looking at me "He came by here not even an hour ago, threatened me. It wasn't very nice." I nodded slowly

"Why do you want me?" She smiled

"Because of your mother. I have a lot of information on you of course, and your mother. You for instance, 21 years old, mother gave you up to a drunk and abusive family. Your foster mother died from cancer at the age of 45, foster dad was a cop by day and a drunk by night. He tragically met his end on the job, shot twice in the chest. Younger sister Cameron, annoying, slightly slutty and yet you took care of her when her father died, until recently where she slept with your longtime boyfriend, and model Gregory Thomas Fitzgerald." I blinked a few times. She did know a lot. "Am I missing anything?" She asked herself and I twisted my wrist against the buckle.

"That doesn't give you a reason to just take me" Instantly she had her hand wrapped around the front of my throat and her face in mine

"Listen prissy little bitch, your mother owes me something very valuable and so does Damon. So why not kidnap you and hold you until they both pay up." I looked at her confused

"You claim to know about my mother, but you don't know that she's been dead. She died giving birth to me." She smiled and pulled her hand from the front of my throat, scratching at the side of my throat and I winced.

"So you don't know…" She whispered and smiled at me "Your mother is still alive and well. I ran across her a few months ago in New York, she took something from me and once she finds out that you're missing, she'll come running."

"Why would she…?" I asked quietly

"She's been checking in on you ever since you were a child, do you really think Madeline died of cancer, and that Jim died on the job?" I blinked a few times and she walked away then to leave me with my thoughts.

She was alive? My mother was alive?

I swallowed hard, hearing my phone ringing from somewhere in the house again for the 20th time. It was past dark, maybe near 8pm when there were hurried footsteps on the floor and finally Isobel was in front of me and then Jeffery.

"Take her into the woods, keep her hidden and quiet by any means necessary, but do not kill her. Do you understand?" He nodded quietly and pulled the straps off of my wrists and pulled me up before I could struggle against him. Before I could scream out for Damon, his hand was against my mouth and I tried to bite against his palm but it did nothing as he carried me out the back into the cool air and into the dark woods. I could barely see anything, how was he seeing in this? He clearly wasn't a vampire… He dropped down about 5 minutes in and pushed me down onto the ground, pinning my arms down onto the hard ground and he kept his eyes down on me.

"Do not scream. Do you hear me?" I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to even my breathing out and my heart rate.

"Have you met my mother?" I whispered up at him and he grunted a bit, holding me down tighter.

"Yes" he finally said "That's how I knew who to find, you look exactly like her." I nodded and opened my eyes to look up at him and turned my head to the side

"Why do you stay with Isobel?"

"She promises me immortality" I nodded again and sighed. He wants to become a monster, he wants to kill people.

"So you wouldn't have a problem killing me if I wasn't valuable in some way?" He shook his head at me

"No, I wouldn't."

"You know she's not going to turn you, right? She'll probably kill you" I whispered up at him and his grip moved from my arms to wrap around my throat and he pressed down and I struggled. Pushing my hands up against his face and trying to scratch at him and then I pulled my fist back and punched him square in the nose and he groaned, his grip loosened enough for me to pull my leg up and knee him in the balls and he rolled over and I pushed myself up and started to run back through the woods.

"You little bitch!" He yelled and started to chase me and I dodged trees from left to right, trying to throw him off. My eye sight was surprisingly getting clearer while I ran for my life from Jeffery.

"HELP!" I screamed while I ran "HELP ME!" I screamed again and continued to run, and scream. Tripping against roots from the woods floor, I caught myself and continued to run. Now just noticing that I was running in the opposite direction from the house, I was running into plunging darkness. I couldn't hear him behind me anymore so I stopped running and crouched down by a large tree trunk, taking in deep breaths and looking around to see if he was coming up behind me. But he wasn't. He was nowhere to be seen.

I stood up carefully and that's when I felt the stabbing pain against the side of my thigh, then it was suddenly gone and it was burning now. An arm and something sharp came across the front of my throat, pressing hard and cutting against my skin.

"If you move another inch, I swear I'll kill you, I don't care what Isobel says" Jeffery grunted out, still out of breath. I pressed my hand to my thigh and felt the warm liquid spreading over my jeans. Had he just stabbed me with his knife? I nodded slowly and he pulled the knife away from my throat. "Walk or I'll stab you on the other side" I nodded and started to walk, my left leg feeling like it was 50lbs heavier. I pressed my hand to my thigh as I stumbled back through the woods.

Once out of the woods, I felt the crisp open air against my burning cheeks. The branches had cut against my face and neck and hands. There was dirt on my knees, mixed with blood as he pushed me up the steps and back into the house.

"What happened? I told you to keep her quiet!" Isobel screamed and looked over at me.

"She ran, I had no other choice" I felt the backhand against my face before I could see her raise a hand and I flew into the side wall onto my side. I groaned out, holding onto my bleeding thigh and my face.

"Put her back in the seat, and leave her there" I felt him grab my wrist and start to drag me and I was way too weak to struggle against him while he pulled me up into the seat and strapped me in again. I dozed off minutes later, my head rolling to the side.

* * *

When I came to the next morning, I heard John Gilberts voice ringing in my ears and I groaned, trying to figure out why I was burning all over. I looked down at my legs, my jeans soaked with brown and red, a cut from the stab wound still there and scabbed over. There was a small puddle of blood under my legs and my face stung when I moved it around. My right eye could barely open and it stung like hell to open all the way.

"Melanie" I heard and turned my head and looked over to the other chair in the room now.

"Jeremy?" I whispered, my voice hoarse and he tried to get up but Jeffery pushed him back down in his seat "Don't struggle Jer" I whispered and looked up at Jeffery "Jeff's not a nice guy when it comes to runners" He smirked down at me and I glanced at the doorway while Isobel strolled in with John.

"What the hell are you doing?" John asked, looking at me and then at Jeremy, now figuring out who I was apparently.

"Getting what I want" Isobel said

"He's my nephew, and you're going to let him go right this second" He pointed at Jeremy "And this grudge you have with Meredith needs to end, torturing her daughter isn't going to get her to come here."

Isobel smiled "Well then, that gody ring on your finger comes off."

"Come on, Isobel, I know you. Okay? It's me John, you can't hurt a kid." He tried to reason with her and Isobel continued to play with her necklace.

"I'll kill him to prove your wrong"

"Really? Are you that far gone?" John asked her, "Look, I know you've changed. Okay? But the old Isobel is in there somewhere, isn't she? Come on let him go" She looked up at him and nodded, a face filled with fake remorse as John was turning around, she said something in French and Jeffery pulled out a candle holder and swung at his head and John dropped and then he started to kick at his ribs.

"Hey" Isobel said and he backed off slowly and then Isobel took his ring from his finger "Let's see how you do without this" John coughed and struggled on the floor, trying to get up onto his feet but failed a few times.

It was a few hours later that he was sitting up against the wall while Jeremy grabbed a wet rag and handed one to John "Are you going to beat me or can I clean her up a bit?" Jeremy asked bitterly to Jeffery who was standing guard by the doorway, and once Jeffery didn't answer, Jeremy patted my face gently to remove the gunk.

"Thanks" I whispered and he nodded sadly.

"What is she after anyways?" Jeremy asked John who was cleaning up the side of his face as well.

"Your ancestor invented a weapon, a device that is extremely harmful to vampires and we've been trying to get it."

"Why?"

"Because there's a group of vampires from a long time ago that want revenge on this town."

"But… why would a vampire help kill other vampires?" Jeremy asked and I looked over at John and then shut my eyes again from the pain it was causing me to keep them open.

"She has her own reason for wanting them dead. Look Jeremy, no one thought vampires would return to this town. Not in modern times but they have. And we have to destroy them"

"All of them?" I whispered, my voice barely there

"Yes, all of them." I slowly dozed off a few seconds later after hearing his answer.


End file.
